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R. A. Brown and R. G. Luckcock The Polytechnic of NO^^ London Holloway London N7 8DB England
Dreams, Daydreams and Discovery
...an attempt is made to provide some typical examples of insights which have come to scientists'durjng dream-like states and in sleep. A previous article in this Journal ( I ) discounted the role of dreams in the scientific life. Taking the well known stories of Kekul6 dozing either near a fire or on the top deck of an omnibus. Byron Vanderbilt ( I ) questioned whether these incidwns rrprwented real cases ofinvention orcurring while tht: diswverer was asleep. This author noted that KekulP seemed to be "the only chemist to achieve notoriety via the dream route." The objective of the present paper is to reexamine the place and importance of a relaxed state of mind, daydreaming, sleep, and dreams in the processes of scientific innovation. Nowadays, it is realized that often discoveries come when the mind is relaxed, and not deliberately concentrating on technical problems. Some have suggested that a bathtub,' a bed, or a stroll in the country were the most appropriate places for inspiration. Many workers (2,3) have reported coming up with solutions to a difficulty when they had a period of intense effort.~. followed bv relaxation. Bv .wav.of examnle. . . Poincar6 ( 4 ) became upsetby his failure to make progress on some arithmetical tonics. . . went to the sea shore. and solved his oroblem as he walked on a Muff one morning. ~ e l m h o l t z i 5 1is fnmous for finding inspiration as he nmt~ledthrough the hills onasunny day. Whileout strolling with hisiamily,Sir William Rowan Hamilton ( 6 ) .Astronomer Roval of Ireland, snddenlv discovered quaternions just as he came to Brougham Bridge in Dublin. On a Sunday afternoon's walk across Glasgow Green, James Watt (7) bad a sudden insight on how to make an effective condenser, which in turn led to the production of a much improved steam engine. Normally, this requirement for a relaxed state is taken to supeest that the mind continues to function at some level other than full awareness, even after we give up conscious efforts to solve a orohlem. Various authors (8.9) have examined the role of the pre., sub-, fore., non- or unconscious in both xientifir and artistic endeavors. Note that we do not intend to imply any particular psychological viewpoint, or adherence to some given school of thought, in the use of these terms. The significance of dreams is another area which has received considerahle attention, since a t least as long ago as the classic publications, of Freud (10) and Jung 01). More modern workers have continued to stress the importance of dreams in creative processes (12). Investigations on physiological changes taking place during sleep have become of increasing importance; talk of such events as rapid eye movements, alpha or theta rhythms has become commonplace. A detailed treatment of the mechanism of mind during sleep is not within the scope of this presentation. Neither is it part of the range of expertise of the authors. Rather, an attempt is made to nrovide which have come " r-~~-some - ~ - tvnical ~ ~ - examnles of insights to scientists during dream-like states, and in sleep. Notice that there is not always a clear cut demarcation between full alertness, a relaxed frame of mind, being partially awake, dream states, and sleep. In fact, the various attitudes of mind conducive to inspiration overlap one another. u-
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Discoveries during sleep An unusual example of a discovery occurring during sleep is recorded by Otto Loewi (131, Professor of Pharmacology a t the University of Graz and Nobel L a ~ r e a t eThis . ~ worker fell 694 / Journal of Chemical Education
asleep one night after reading a novel. Suddenly, in the middlc of the nicht, he awoke to jot down a brilliant idea that had come in his sleep. On waking the next morning there came the frustrating experience of not being able to decipher his own hurried notes, no matter bow hard he tried. The following night Loewi went to bed again, had the same flash of insight in his sleep, hut this time made some very careful comments on his notepad when he awoke. On studying data from experiments carried out as a result of his revelation, Loewi found that chemical substances are involved when nerve impulses triager muscular action. Subseauentlv, this area became an . .. important field of work for many investignum. Some inwresting accounts of drrnms and discovery are given by Clark (14).Goodyear worked for years on a process for the vulcanization of rubber. Success came when he dreamed of a man who told him to try adding sulfur. In a dream, Alfred Werner had an insight which led to the foundation of coordination chemistry. At Neuberg on the Danube during the night of 10 November, 1619, Descartes had a very vivid dream, in which he saw a wav to combine mathematics and ohilosoohv into a new discipline (151. Newton (16) often soived prbbiems in dreams. M. A. Rosanoff ( I ; ) , a colleague of Thomas Edison. strnggled for over a year to modify the composirion of waxes used in phonograph cylinders.'l'his worker found no let up in his concentration, since thoughts of wax and its softening characteristics came even in his sleep. Eventually, be succeeded in obtaining the desired properties. Bernd Mathias (18) invented many superconductors in his sleep. Nobel Laureate Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (IS), when asked where his research ideas came from, replied: "In my bed, when waking between three and four am., or while sleepinn. The brain does a great deal of unconscious work, without our knowing it, and that is how most of our great problems are solved." Many scit!ntists hav&cporied one way in which sleep can he especiallveffective. Oiten, i f you go to bed with a particularly difficult problem on you< mind, the solution appears almost spontaneously as soon as you wake (19). The French mathematician Jacques Hadamard (20) illustrates such a reaction. On beine..vew, abruotlv . .awakened hv an external noise. a solution lone searched for appeared to me at oncr without theslighrest insranr or reflectim on my pan-thr fact was remarkable enough ro haw srmrk mr ut~lwgettablg-and in a quitediffrrmtdirecrion fromnny ofrhwe I had previously tried to follow. Further examples are given by Platt and Baker (21). In a survey carried out among some 232 workers who were mainly chemists, these authors asked researchers for their sources of inspiration. Ives gives the following story. I went to bed one night in a state of brain fag over this problem and the instant that I awoke in the morning saw, before me, apparently projected upon the ceiling, the completely worked out process and equipment in operation. In honor of Archimedes' famous experiencewith specific gravity and the crown of King Hiero, inspiration in a bathtub is referred to sometimes as a Eureka effect. Various authors differ in the details of this stow. We have chosen Reference (13)as the basis of our account, since tbi; appears to be the earliest version recorded.
We do not claim that discovery only comes about through the use of dreams. In fact, i t is generally recognized now that scientists can be,grouped into two broad categories.. ''accumu1ators''and "guessers."
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McKee recalls a story from his youth.
the following account.
A pn,feswr uivrganic chem~rtryissued a pn,hlem to a umior claar of which I was a mrmber. I worked hard at it for w m e timr. Oneof my
If I have a troublesome problem that is really hig and hangs on for some time, I usually get it cleared up when I am trying to go to sleep ... I do this in spite of myself, because I really want to getto sleep hut cannot do it, because when I start dropping off to sleepanother idea comes to mind that wakes me up.
intensive efforts u, solve the pnhlem orcurred onr night hpfom retirmg. Prcswnably, my aulrmscious mind continued t o work as I snuzyled inm the pillow. Suddenly $andapparently after I had begun u, d m e ~a number ufrssrntial facts brarmc im the pmhlrm flaqhed having done so) went to me. I gat up (though later, I could not to my desk and made (as if in thedark) rough and irregular noteson these facts or ideas. The next mornine the exnerience took the form of n hn7y dream, the details of which I heartily wrhed I cwld re. call-was artwinded I U iind the notrs on my desk and t u recocnire them a, my "dream" (").They rnahlrd me ta, hand in the first solution to the problem.
Spear provides the following account. I had discussed the entirematter for several hours with the engineer in charge of the work. I went to the hotel, had dinner and thought the situation over. I went to bed and slept for several hours. At 3 o'clock in the morning, I awakened with an entirely new process clearly before my mind's eye. I arose and wrote out a patent disclosure. A patent has since been granted. Apparently, Banting's discovery of insulin was also in this category (21). Another illustration of this phenomenon is given by Goldenstein (22). . . \Vak~ngupat about 2or 3a.m. and lying in perfect darkness I uodd suddenly haw before me on the ceiling or on the wall every minute detail of a cun~plicntpduirrng diagram of an nutumsticcuntnd system. Sometimes hundreds of wires would appear before me properly interconnected to accomplish just what I wanted. One of the authors (RAB) can recall an experience in this category. As a research student working on sintering in metal oxides, I reached a stage of heing baffled by some results on activation energies for densification and grain growth. One night as I lay in bed data kept buzzing around in my head. Eventuallv I fell asleep. .. and had a perfectly normal night's rest. ~ m m e d i a t eon l ~ waking in the morning the significance of these activation enernv values leapt into my mind. At the time there was a distinct impression that some part of my brain had continued to function all night, without conscious effort on my part. An interesting account of the deliberate use of sleep for inspiration is given by Walter B. Cannon (23), Professor of Physiology a t Harvard University Medical School. While a student in high school I was occasionally puzzled by "originals" in algebra,the solution of which was not at all clear when I went to sleep at night. As I awoke in the morning the proper procedures were immediately evident and the answers were quickly obtained. On an occasion I was handed a comolicated tov which was out of order and.wnuld -. . notonemte. I examined the mechanism carefullv but did nu1 srr how the defect might I w rorr~rtt-d.I resorted to 4ecp for a solution of the pr
