It is known that the famous chemist Dmitry Mendeleev saw his table of chemical elements in a dream. But his example is far from the only one. Many scientists, writers, artists admitted that it was dreams that helped them make discoveries or gave impetus to the creation of a work of art. Why does this happen, and what other dreams have left a bright trace in the history of mankind?
Is it healthier to sleep than to study?
It is curious that the famous dream was dreamed by Dmitry Mendeleev right in his office. The history of this discovery was told to the world by his friend, professor of geology at St. Petersburg University Alexander Inostrantsev, who constantly told this case to his students. According to Inostrantsev's version, in 1869 Dmitry Ivanovich, who worked without sleep for three days, lay down in the office to rest. In a dream, he saw a table in which the chemical elements were arranged according to their atomic masses. After waking up, the scientist wrote this table on a piece of paper - and subsequently made only a few minor amendments to it.
The most surprising thing is that at this time the atomic masses of some chemical elements were determined inaccurately, and many chemical elements were not even discovered. Thus, using the scientific data known at that time, it was almost impossible to make such a discovery. And this means that we can talk about the brilliant insight that came to Mendeleev in a dream and forever glorified the name of the scientist.
True, Dmitry Ivanovich himself did not like to remember this story. Maybe he didn't want his discovery to be thought of as some kind of ridiculous accident. After all, the scientist worked on his table for several years. And most likely, because the students perceived this case as an incentive to sleep more and less exercise.
Spears of savages and a gun with a ball
Promotional video:
In 1845, a "prophetic" dream helped the American weaving mechanic Elias Howe invent the sewing machine. At first, the designer placed the eye of the needle in the same way as on an ordinary needle - and the thread was constantly breaking, Elias Howe had an unusual dream in which he was taken prisoner by a crowd of savages. They arranged a round dance around the mechanic and in the process of ritual dance shook their spears. Holes were made at the ends of the spears, close to the point. Elias Howe woke up and figured out how to solve the problem. He moved the eyelet to the opposite end of the needle - and soon received a patent for a sewing machine, and later became fabulously rich, receiving five dollars from each piece sold.
Another household invention - a ballpoint pen - also owes its birth to an unusual dream. In 1938, the Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro, who was very worried about regularly staining his hands with fountain pen ink, had a dream. Some people from the street did not allow him to work, constantly knocking on the windows. To scare the hooligans, the journalist took a gun in a dream and fired. But the gun turned out to be loaded with ink, and the barrel was plugged with a ball. And when I tried to shoot, ink escaped from the barrel in a thin and accurate stream.
In the morning, Biro, with the help of his brother chemist, drew up a drawing of the dream device - and in the same year it was patented in Hungary. True, the journalist himself had to leave his homeland due to the impending invasion of the Nazis - he went to Argentina, where he remained until the end of his days. As a sign of respect for the person who invented an object so much needed in everyday life, his birthday - September 29 - is celebrated in Argentina as Inventor's Day.
Canadian physiologist Frederick Grant Bunting, after the death of his close friend due to diabetes mellitus, decided to create a cure for this disease. He studied the works of many doctors, conducted numerous experiments on dogs, and in 1921 the scientist had a dream in which a voice dictated what to do: “To ligate the pancreatic ducts in dogs. Wait six to eight weeks. Remove and extract. Bunting brought the message to life - and the result was the hormone insulin, which has since been used as the main medicine for diabetes. For this discovery, Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923, becoming the youngest laureate in medicine and physiology (at 32). And his birthday, November 14, is celebrated as World Diabetes Day.
Mom was making scrambled eggs
In May 1816, the Englishwoman Mary Shelley, just beginning to study literature, went to Switzerland with a company of friends, among whom was the famous poet George Byron.
The summer was rainy, and travelers were amused by sitting by the fireplace in the evenings, composing and telling ghost stories. Byron suggested that each person present write a story on this topic. Mary Shelley struggled with the plot for several days, but could not come up with anything interesting. And once in a dream she dreamed of a scientist who revived the disgusting corpse of a man. Mary woke up in a strong fright and decided: since such a monster scared her, it could scare others too. She began work on a novella, which grew into a novel published in 1818 and became the first and most famous for the writer - "Frankenstein, or Modern Prometheus."
Salvador Dali, when inspiration did not come to him for a long time, deliberately resorted to the help of dreams. He sat on a chair, put a metal plate on the floor in front of him and held a massive key in his hands. The artist tried to sleep. When this succeeded, the fingers unclenched, and the key fell with a crash on the plate. Salvador Dali woke up and transferred the images that arose during sleep to his canvases. This is how the paintings "Persistence of Memory" (1931) and "A Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening" (1944) were created.
The most famous song by The Beatles is Yesterday. According to the Guinness Book of Records, this melody is an absolute record holder in terms of both airtime and different versions of performance. In 1965, she dreamed of one of the leaders of the group, Paul McCartney. Moreover, the musician at first was sure that he had heard this melody before, and did not consider himself its author. It was only after consulting with the other band members that Paul realized that he had composed the original music. True, he dreamed of the song with other words - Scrambled eggs ("Scrambled eggs"). And only a few months later the musician came up with the necessary verses for her.
In September 2013, Paul McCartney admitted in an interview that this melody has always been associated with the image of his mother, who died when he was 14 years old. Thus, the musician made it clear that a beautiful melody was ripening somewhere inside him for a long time and the dream only helped her to be born. Maybe his mother once cooked eggs for him, and this event was deposited in the boy's subconscious, and later embodied in the words of a dream song?
When nothing distracts
Why do scientific and creative insights so often come to their authors in a dream? The explanation is quite simple - at these minutes our consciousness and subconsciousness are actively working, which is not distracted by anything.
German physiologist and psychologist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), studying the algorithm - a scientific or creative discovery, identified three phases in it. First, a person accumulates knowledge, then analyzes the information received, and finally, an insight comes to him. In other words, a dream that carries a brilliant scientific or creative discovery does not come by itself. The periodic table could not be seen by a peasant or a financier. First, you need to closely bring your mind to the solution of a given scientific or creative problem. In a state of sleep, when the body is resting, consciousness and subconsciousness are able to work much more fruitfully than during wakefulness. And the problem that the brain has been working on for a long time is embodied in a visual or sound image.
Currently, psychologists have developed special techniques for illumination in a dream. As a rule, they come down to two stages. At the first stage, a person learns to control the subconscious, instructing him to perform simple tasks (for example, at a certain time to remind of something - to call, to do something, etc.). After this stage has been mastered, the tasks can be complicated and the subconscious can be instructed to solve some problems in a dream.
Such dreams are called lucid dreams (the term was introduced by the Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eden). They usually occur during the borderline state between REM sleep and wakefulness. Today's leading expert in this field, Professor Allan Hobson from Harvard University, is confident that everyone can learn lucid dreaming.
The main thing is to remember that before this it is necessary to accumulate and comprehend a sufficient amount of information. And even if you do not dream of a brilliant melody or a discovery worthy of the Nobel Prize, you may well solve some problem of your own with the help of a "prophetic dream."