DREAMS THAT TRANSFORMED SOCIETY
Added on: 15th Jan 2016
DNA'S DOUBLE HELIX
One of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time was the
discovery of DNA’s structure. Dr. James Watson had a dream
involving two snakes intertwined with heads at the opposite ends,
leading to his consideration of a double helix.
THE TERMINATOR
With a fever spiking to 102°F (39°C), James Cameron had the
idea of the Terminator in a dream (more like a nightmare).
Cameron saw the metallic figure with piercing red eyes pulling
itself up from a fire – not the kind of dream we’d want
to have anytime soon.
STEPHEN KING BOOKS
Global best-selling novelist Stephen King had many ideas come to
him through dreams, including the books Misery and It.
As King said: “I’ve always used dreams the way you’d use
mirrors to look at something you couldn’t see head-on.”
NERVOUS SYSTEM COMMUNICATION
In the early 20th century, scientists thought our nerves transmitted
information electrically. After a dream, Dr. Otto Loewi awoke during
the night and scribbled some thoughts on a paper. Upon waking
in the morning, he realized he had written about information being
transmitted chemically, later proven to be true and
winning him the Nobel Prize in 1936.
BENZENE
You might not know much about it, but benzene is a pretty
important foundation in chemistry, partly responsible for cars,
leather, and high schoolers dismay. Chemist Friedrich August
Kekulé von Stradonitz’s dream of a snake biting its own tail
in a hexagonal shape led to his discovery of the
six-sided benzene.
PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS
Dmitry Mendeleev first came up with the idea for the periodic table
in a dream. Unable to figure out how to arrange the elements,
he used music heard in his dream to figure out the best way
was by their properties and atomic weight.
INCEPTION
Director Christopher Nolan is fascinated with dreams. He would
frequently practice waking up and falling partially asleep again
to try manipulating his dreams in the semi-conscious state.
It’s easy to see how this love turned into the Inception thriller.
ARTILLERY GUN LEVELLER
D.B Parkinson, an employee at Bell Labs (started by Alexander
Graham Bell and at one time owned by AT&T) was designing an
add-on to the telephone in 1940. One night, he dreamt he was in
the middle of the war in Europe and, after being shown by an
artillery crewman, saw the device he was creating helped the
cannon take out Nazi aircraft with surprising accuracy.
Comment on this