Dream to Discover: Scientists That Solved Enigmas While They Slept
Our brain needs to rest to reorganize the information it acquires during the day; which is why it is possible to solve problems while we sleep.
Thanks to modern neuroscience we know that our brain needs at least to do two things to organize information: to be distracted and to sleep. It sounds paradoxical, but that is how we function. We could dedicate all our attention to a problem, by concentrating on assimilating all the existing information and try to consider all the possible angles, but there will come a point where our brains tire and we will simply not be able to see any further. Which is why we need to think about something else or, as when we sleep, free up our mind from thought control. The information will then become appropriately ordered.
As a result, and although it may seem strange, there are many cases in which an invention or a discovery has taken place in dreams. For a moment it could be believed that scientific investigation is exclusively rational, but there is also that other part of us that can intervene and collaborate, with unexpected results.
Here are three examples of scientists that dreamed about what they so longed to discover:
Mendeleev’s periodic table
After spending several days thinking up a system that could order the known chemical elements based on their atomic weight, Dmitri Mendeleev had a dream in which they all were perfectly arranged in a table. When he woke up, Mendeleev immediately drew his vision, and which revealed itself perfectly, as such system even revealed the errors in the values of some of the elements and even showed the existence of some that were not yet known.
Niels Bohr’s atomic model
According to Edwina Portocarrero and other researchers at the MIT, the physicist Niels Bohr had the idea of the atomic model in a dream in which he saw the sun surrounded by all the planets of the solar system, and which appeared tied together with little strings.
The speed of light
The anecdote goes that, when he was young, Albert Einstein dreamt that he rode a sled in the snow, downhill, with the speed increasing as the descent continued; in the dream, Einstein felt that the sled accelerated to the speed of light, and with which the surroundings began to fade and the colors all bled into one. In some ways the scientific work of the physicist was an attempt at finding out what would happen to the body or a quantity of energy if it moved at the same speed as light.
Pictorial spiritism (a woman's drawings guided by a spirit)
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Astounding fairytale illustrations from Japan
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"""Ubongo wetu unahitaji kupumzika ili kuandaa tena habari inayopatikana wakati wa mchana, na ndiyo sababu inawezekana kutatua matatizo wakati tunapolala.""" Kwa sababu ya sayansi ya neva, ubongo wetu unahitaji kufanya mambo mawili ili kuandaa habari: kugeuka na kulala. Inaonekana kuwa jambo lisilo la kawaida, lakini ndivyo tunavyofanya kazi. Tunaweza kujitolea uangalifu wetu wote kwa tatizo, kwa kuzingatia assimilating habari zote zilizopo na kujaribu kuzingatia pembe zote zinazowezekana, lakini kutakuwa na hatua ambapo ubongo wetu kuchoka na sisi tu si uwezo wa kuona zaidi. Kwa hiyo tunahitaji kufikiria juu ya kitu kingine au, kama wakati tunapolala, tuachilie akili yetu kutoka kwa udhibiti wa mawazo. Kisha habari hizo zitawekwa katika utaratibu unaofaa. Kwa sababu hiyo, na ingawa huenda ikaonekana kuwa jambo lisilo la kawaida, kuna visa vingi ambapo uvumbuzi au ugunduzi umetukia katika ndoto. Kwa muda unaweza kuamini kwamba uchunguzi wa kisayansi ni wa busara tu, lakini kuna sehemu nyingine ya sisi ambayo inaweza kuingilia kati na kushirikiana, na matokeo yasiyotarajiwa. "Mwandishi wa sayansi wa zamani Dmitri Mendeleev aliandika kitabu chake cha ""The Periodic Table"" (Tabula ya Kipindi cha Mendeleev) na aliandika kwamba ""baada ya kutumia siku kadhaa akifikiria mfumo ambao ungeweza kupanga vitu vya kemikali vilivyojulikana kulingana na uzito wao wa atomu, Dmitri Mendeleev alikuwa na ndoto ambayo vyote vilikuwa vimepangwa kikamilifu katika meza." Mendeleev alipomkumbuka, mara moja akachora maono yake, na ambayo yalijidhihirisha yenyewe kikamilifu, kama mfumo kama huo hata ulifunua makosa katika maadili ya baadhi ya vipengele na hata ilionyesha kuwepo kwa baadhi ambayo bado haijulikani. Niels Bohr, mwanasayansi wa MIT, aliwahi kueleza kuwa, katika ndoto yake, aliona jua limezungukwa na sayari zote za mfumo wa jua, na kwamba jua lilikuwa limefungwa pamoja kwa nyuzi ndogo. "Kama anecdote inaendelea, wakati yeye alikuwa kijana, Albert Einstein aliota kwamba yeye farasi sleigh katika theluji, downhill, na kasi kuongezeka kama kushuka iliendelea; katika ndoto, Einstein waliona kwamba sleigh kuharakisha kwa kasi ya mwanga, na ambayo mazingira kuanza kufifia na rangi wote kupotea katika moja.""" Kwa njia fulani, kazi ya kisayansi ya mwanafizikia ilikuwa jaribio la kujua nini kingeweza kutokea kwa mwili au kiasi fulani cha nishati ikiwa ingehamia kwa mwendo sawa na mwanga. Uchawi wa picha (michoro ya mwanamke inayoongozwa na roho) Kuna mifano mingi katika historia ya wasanii wa kujifunza ambayo yanaonyesha uchunguzi wa kile tunachokichukua kwa kawaida ndani ya ulimwengu wa sanaa. Hivyo ndivyo ilivyokuwa na takwimu kama vile Mifano ya hadithi za ajabu kutoka Japani Hadithi za hadithi za kabila ni zaidi ya hadithi za utotoni. Hadithi hizo zisizo za kweli, ambazo wahusika wao huhifadhi kumbukumbu zetu za mapema zaidi, si kazi za fasihi tu zenye kusudi la kupendeza na lenye kupendeza. "Hiyo ni shairi la sinema na wimbo kwa maji: mdundo wake, maumbo na muundo: ""Hapa yupo yule ambaye jina lake limeandikwa katika maji.""" Bila maji, usawa wa maisha, angalau maisha kama tunavyoyajua, yangekuwa haiwezekani. "Hii ni kwa sababu ya nadharia ya ""maji"" ambayo inaonyesha jinsi uzuri unavyofunuliwa kupitia sayansi katika hii ""Ode kwa Maua"" - utafiti wa microscopic ni moja ya njia tajiri zaidi, ya aesthetic ya kuelewa ulimwengu." Je, ni bahati gani kwa mwanasayansi ambaye, baada ya kuona kitu kizuri, ana uwezo wa kuona yote ya ndogo, kuunda wale tunaowapenda au kuwaona kama wao ni? Upendo katika mandhari mbili za filamu zinazopendwa Sana imesemwa tayari, ya "upendo" kwamba ni vigumu kuongeza chochote, zaidi ya kitu kipya. "Hata hivyo, inawezekana, labda kwa sababu hata kama utajaribu kupita kupitia sieve ya yote yetu, programu hii inakuwezesha kupata na kuhifadhi typography za kale. watu wengi, hata wale ambao ni mbali mbali na ulimwengu wa kubuni, wanajua aina fulani ya typography na uwezo wake wa kubadilisha maandishi yoyote, kusaidia dyslexics au kunyoosha karatasi ya kurasa nane "" siri za uhusiano wa akili na mwili. kwa miongo kadhaa utafiti wa matibabu umegundua kuwepo kwa athari ya placebo. """ Bahari kama maabara isiyo na mwisho: Mawazo yetu mengi juu ya umbo la ulimwengu na ulimwengu hutokana na jinsi wanasayansi na wasanii wamepitia mada hizi kwa muda. Kugawana na kushirikiana ni harakati za asili za kiumbe cha ubunifu, wakati mwingine tunaweza kufikiria kwamba shughuli ya kisanii au ubunifu ni, kwa asili, ya mtu binafsi. "Mwanzo wa utamaduni wa Kiyahudi-Kikristo unaonyesha Mungu ambaye uamuzi wake wa kuunda ulimwengu ni mkali kama John Malkovich anakuwa David Lynch (na wahusika wengine) John Malkovich na David Lynch ni, kwa mtiririko huo, mwigizaji na mkurugenzi wa filamu ambaye ""amezungumzia kwa njia ya wazi au ya wazi masuala ya utambulisho na vizuizi vyake vya kuvu.""" Sasa