5 Discoveries Made in Dreams

⚘5 Discoveries Made in Dreams⚘

8 NOVEMBER, 2015

By*Tara MacIsaac*,*Epoch Times**

In Beyond Science, Epoch Times explores research and accounts related to phenomena and theories that challenge our current knowledge. We delve into ideas that stimulate the imagination and open up new possibilities.

1. Dmitri Mendeleev, Periodic Table⚘

Dmitri Mendeleev (1834–1907)
wanted to organize the 65 known elements somehow.
He knew there was a pattern to be discerned,
and it had something to do with atomic weight,
but the pattern remained elusive.

Then, Mendeleev later reported,

“In a dream⚘ I saw a table
where all the elements fell into place as required.

Awakening,
I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.”

Mendeleev’s words were quoted*in

“On the Question of Scientific Creativity,”
by Russian chemist B.M. Kedrov.⚘

This was how the periodic table was formed.
The arrangement he saw in his dream ⚘
was so accurate,
it even revealed that some elements had been incorrectly measured;
they were placed in his periodic table according to their atomic weight,
which wasn’t even known yet.⚘

https://www.ancient-origins.net/unex...EeAZBK4inFb3M4

Christian Gerike (Owner and Moderator)
at "California Dreaming Facebook page
Thank you for sharing THIS article, Wow

2. Niels Bohr, Atomic Model⚘

“Niels Bohr [1885–1962]
reports that he developed the model of the atom
based on a dream⚘
of sitting on the sun
with all the planets hissing around on tiny cords,”**

according to a paper**titled
“Pillow-Talk:

Seamless Interface
for Dream Priming*
Recalling and Playback,”

by Edwina Portocarrero
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
and co-authors.

3. Elias Howe, Sewing Machine

Elias Howe (1819–1867)
is often credited with inventing the sewing machine,
though in reality
he significantly improved previous designs
and received the first U.S. patent
for a sewing machine using the lockstitch design.

It was a major development
in creating the modern sewing machine.

⚘Before a breakthrough came to him in a dream, ⚘
however,
he was stuck
on the problem of
where to place the eye of the needle.

⚘

His dream is recorded**
in a family history**titled,
“The Bemis History and Genealogy:
Being an Account,
in Greater Part,
of the Descendants of
Joseph Bemis of Watertown, Massachusetts:”*

“He almost beggared himself
before he discovered
where the eye of the needle of the sewing machine
should be located. …
His original idea was to follow the model
of the ordinary needle,
and have the eye at the heel.

It never occurred to him that it should be placed
near the point,
and he might have failed altogether
if he had not dreamed ⚘

:holyshit::holyshit::holyshit:

he was building a sewing machine
for a savage king in a strange country.

“Just as in his actual waking experience,
he was perplexed about the needle’s eye.
He thought the king gave him twenty-four hours
in which to complete the machine and make it sew.

If not finished in that time death was to be the punishment.

Howe worked and worked,
and puzzled, and finally gave it up.
Then he thought he was taken out to be executed.

“He noticed that the warriors carried spears
that were pierced near the head.

:dreamerchair::dreamerchair::dreamerchair:

Instantly came the solution of the difficulty,
and while the inventor was begging for time he awoke.
It was 4 o’clock in the morning.

“He jumped out of bed, ran to his workshop,
and by 9,
a needle with an eye at the point
had been rudely modeled. After that it was easy.”

4. Albert Einstein, Speed of Light

“Einstein said

his entire career
was an extended meditation
⚘on a dream ⚘
he had as a teenager,”

explained the Rev. John W. Price
in an interview with John H. Lienhard,
professor emeritus of mechanical engineering and history at the University of Houston,
on the radio show “Engines of Our Ingenuity.”
⚘
“He dreamt that he was riding a sled
down a steep, snowy slope
and,
as he approached the speed of light
in his dream,
the colors all blended into one.

He spent much of his career,
inspired by that dream,
thinking about what happens at the speed of light.”

⚘

5. Friedrich August Kekulé, Molecular Structure of Benzene

Friedrich August Kekulé (1829–1896)
developed a structural theory in chemistry
(related to the bonding order of atoms in a molecule)
that was integral
to the development of organic chemistry. *

Dozing on a bus,
⚘a vision ⚘
that provided a starting point for this theory*
appeared to him,
as recorded in
“Serendipidty, Accidental Discoveries in Science,”
by Royston M. Roberts:

⚘

“I was returning by the last bus,
riding outside as usual, t
hrough the deserted streets of the city. …

I fell into a reverie,

and lo,
the atoms were gamboling before my eyes.

Whenever, hitherto,
these diminutive beings had appeared to me,
they had always been in motion.

Now, however,
I saw how, frequently,
two smaller atoms united to form a pair;

how a larger one embraced the two smaller ones;

how still larger ones kept hold of
three or even four of the smaller,
whilst the whole kept whirling in a giddy dance.

I saw how the larger ones formed a chain,
dragging the smaller ones after them

but only at the ends of the chains. …

The cry of the conductor, ‘Clapham Road,’
awakened me from my dreaming;

but I spent a part of the night
in putting on paper at least sketches
of these dream forms.”

⚘

Featured image: Neils Bohr, ca. 1922 (R) and Albert Einstein. (Neils Bohr: AB Lagrelius & Westphal; Albert Einstein: Public domain; Background: Alexander Bedrin/iStock)
⚘
The article ‘*Five Scientific Discoveries Made in Dreams*’
was originally published on*
The Epoch Times*
and has been republished with permission.*⚘

Superb thanks for sharing. Bet there are so many more also!

Some more context on two of these....

For decades before Mendeleev's work, other chemists had been developing periodic tables, and Mendeleev had been working on the problem for a while. Other chemists had tables similar to Mendeleev's, though he was the first to publish his table, which is most similar to what we use now. Although part of the final insight may have come to Mendeleev in a dream, the understanding captured by that insight had been gained by extensive work on the problem while awake. To the extent that the dream was involved, I think it is plausible that Mendeleev was psychically drawing on other chemists' work without realizing it.

Einstein's results were similarly grounded in a lot of mathematical drudgery, both his own and others', principally Poincare, who preceded Einstein. Some people like to quote Einstein out of context to support the idea that he was bad at math, but he was really, really good at it, and what he was doing with it was very hard compared to what almost anyone else could attempt. Einstein may have been inspired by a dream, but I think its almost completely false to suggest that his discovery was made in a dream.

I had an inspirational geometrical dream when I was about 18. I wasn't able to retain a memory of it after awaking, it seems as if what I saw can't topologically be embedded in Euclidean 3-space.