7 great scientific discoveries thanks to dreams

There is little known fact that, while we sleep, the subconscious mind continues to work on issues that our consciousness is not yet able to solve. But coincidentally and also mysteriously, the scientific discoveries of humankind are revealed unexpectedly through dreams.

Here are seven of the most typical discoveries that humans have discovered while sleeping unconsciously:

Discovered the periodic table of chemical elements

Many people know that the periodic table of chemical elements was created by Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev. However, not everyone knows how he struggled to create and arrange the order of the Periodic Table.

After the first ideas appeared on chemical elements, in 1869, Mendeleev used to write the names of elements on cards (one element per element) and included properties. of each element on separate cards.

He found that the mass of atoms played a rather important role in the Periodic Table, but in fact he could not find the sort of arrangement. Believing that something important had been discovered, Mendeleev moved the cards for hours continuously until he fell asleep unaware.

The results were quite surprising when Mendeleev woke up, everything was almost arranged in his head. Mendeleev believed that the subconscious mind helped him accomplish everything.

"In the dream, I saw a board with all the elements placed in the right places. As soon as I woke up, I wrote it right on a piece of paper," Mendeleev said of the accidental discovery of. me

Discovered the theory of evolution through natural selection

British naturalist, explorer, geographer and anthropologist Alfred Russel Wallace was the one who had the greatest merit in making a proposal about evolution theory by natural selection, before being received by Charles Darwin. continue to consolidate this theory later.

The documents noted that, on a trip to Brazil and Southeast Asia, he happened to find a biological difference through geographical barriers separating the Indonesian archipelago. In it, there are many animals that are closely related to animals in Australia and some species originating in Asia.

In the years that followed, he continued to consider methodological issues so that a new species could appear, but every search effort failed and there was no solution.

Only after 1858, in a dream that was not very peaceful, when Wallace constantly dreamed of illusion shapes during a fever. And after the fever passed, he realized that the theory of selective evolution had appeared in his mind.

"Because animals often reproduce much faster than all humans, the perpetual process of killing each year can help maintain the number of each species . I vaguely think of great and continuous destruction. But there is one question I still wonder, why do some species die and others live? And the answer is quite clear, considering the number of mutated individuals, combined with experiences. of a collector, I found that, in order to survive, all species need to follow all the changes needed to be able to adapt to the changing environment , " Wallace writes of the first findings. related to evolutionary theory through natural selection.

Discovered the structure of benzene and aromatic compounds

German chemist August Kekulé wondered about the arrangement of benzene atoms. But perhaps, this is a rather difficult problem because the ratio between benzene's carbon and hydrogen atoms is not the same as other hydrocarbon compounds.

However, on a cold winter night in 1985, while working, Kekulé happened to find out the structure of benzene. Initially, Kekulé seemed unable to find anything and felt helpless, he returned to the chair opposite the fire to warm up and fell asleep.

In a sudden dream, Kekulé sees the atoms begin to dance and gradually form a snake. After that, the snake returned to bite into its own tail. These images kept going on in Kekulé's dream. And after waking up, he realized that the dream had suggested to him the structure of benzene molecules, carbon rings (benzene formulated with six sides with three single and double bonds).

Thanks to the accidental discovery, chemists later found the aroma of chemical compounds and gained an understanding of chemical bonds.

Discover thousands of new mathematical ideas

Srinivasa Ramanujan is a legendary Indian mathematician, famous for being a person who has no formal and intensive training in mathematics but has many contributions to mathematics. During his short career (he died young, at the age of 32), Ramanujan gave birth to more than 4,000 proofs, identity, assumptions and mathematical equations.

Although he died quite early, Ramanujan's rich ideas and assumptions were ahead of his time and continue to inspire modern mathematicians today. However, not all ideas are thought by him.

Ramanujan said that the Hindu goddess Namagiri was the one who helped show him the proofs in mathematics. He said: "While sleeping, I had a strange experience. I saw a red curtain created by the blood flowing. While watching, suddenly a hand started writing on the curtain. And I pay close attention to it. The hand writes some of the elliptical integrals. As soon as I wake up, I rewrite them. "

Discovered scientific methods

René Descartes - the father of modern philosophy and also a famous French scientist and mathematician, has built many frameworks for modern scientific methods.

In his essay on philosophy and Discourse on the Method autobiography, Descartes emphasized the issue of ideology on skepticism, and considered everything to be doubted until it was clearly demonstrated.

Descartes said that in order to be able to provide the basis for scientific methods, it was not necessarily his study but part of the help of dreams on a winter night on November 10. 1619 came to him.

The findings help prove that nerves can transmit chemical signals

The famous German pharmacist Otto Loewi with the discovery of the acetylcholine organic molecule (an organic molecule that acts as a neurotransmitter in many organisms, including humans), has opened. A new direction for biomedical research helps improve medical treatments.

In 1903, Otto Loewi had a thought regarding chemical substances that played an important role in the transmission of nerve signals, but at the time, he could not think of a way to testify. prove it.

It seemed hopeless, but until 1920 in a sudden dream, Loewi dreamed of a problem he was thinking. Waking up immediately, he excitedly recorded his dream that night. However, the next morning, he could not remember anything about the dream of the night before and it was impossible to read the meaning of the notes he had written.

Continuing the next night, Loewi dreamed about them again. The dream of talking about an experiment can help prove this thought, but this time, it was a good time, this time he clearly remembered what happened in the dream. And his ongoing work after 17 years, has been solved with proven chemical experiments. In 1936, Loewi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his remarkable contributions to modern medicine.

Fish fossils discovered

The famous geologist and biologist Louis Agassiz (Swiss) has made a very important discovery for the archeology industry today. And dreams, which are still the only way for ancient paleontologists, to discover this.

Tired after more than two weeks of studying fossilized fish without any progress, Agassiz decided to put it all to rest. However, taking a short nap, he suddenly woke up and tried to quickly sketch a strange dream about the complete details of the fossilized fish. But every effort after that was unsuccessful when all images of dreams disappeared soon after.

The next night, Agassiz again dreamed of fossilized fish again, but the results were not as good as the first. By the third night, thanks to the proper preparation of a pencil and paper by the bedside, he successfully sketched the images he saw in his dream. In particular, he did it while half-awake and had absolutely no light to support.

Later, the sketch of Agassiz became an important tool to help him find the structure of fossil fish and help to classify species more easily.