''Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood'' is a
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...
by
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurology, neurologist, Natural history, naturalist, historian of science, and writer.
Born in London, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford ...
about his childhood published in
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
. The book is named after Sacks's Uncle Dave, whom Oliver nicknamed Uncle Tungsten because he was secretary of a business named Tungstalite, which made
incandescent lightbulb
An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a filament until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb that is eithe ...
s with a
tungsten
Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...
filament
The word filament, which is descended from Latin ''filum'' meaning " thread", is used in English for a variety of thread-like structures, including:
Astronomy
* Galaxy filament, the largest known cosmic structures in the universe
* Solar filament ...
. Uncle Tungsten was fascinated with tungsten and believed it was the metal of the future. According to family members, Oliver used the single nickname, Uncle Tungsten, to refer to a combination of Dave with several other individuals in the same family.
Sacks' middle name is 'Wolf', and in most European (especially Germanic, Spanish and Slavic) languages, tungsten is named "Wolfram", which is the origin of the chemical symbol ''W''.
The book combines autobiographical elements with a primer in the history and science of
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
. However, it is not all about his youthful passion for chemistry, but also is eclectic, relating his memories of the catastrophic fire at
the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around ...
, his terrible experiences of sadism at school, his interest in
amateur chemistry
Amateur chemistry or home chemistry is the pursuit of chemistry as a private hobby. Amateur chemistry is usually done with whatever chemicals are available at disposal at the privacy of one's home. It should not be confused with clandestine chemis ...
, and a passing obsession with coloring his own black-and-white photographs in his home laboratory.
Reception
Upon release, ''Uncle Tungsten'' was generally well-received among the British press.
References
External links
Uncle Tungstenon Oliver Sacks' official site
C-SPAN Book Discussion on ''Uncle Tungsten'' with Sacks, November 29, 2001
2001 non-fiction books
American autobiographies
Books by Oliver Sacks
Chemistry books
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