You know what visions I get in my dreams?
Visions of falling off of buildings (and doing the full body spasm thing when I hit the ground). These 11 people, on the other hand, had dreams that changed the world.
Let’s hope that my visions take a turn toward genius sometime soon. Until then, I’ll just take inspiration from these guys.
The Periodic Table
It’s said that Dmitry Mendeleyev was on a three-day work bender when he finally gave in for a few minutes of shut eye.
Instead of falling asleep for 17 hours like most sleep deprived people, Mendeleyev dreamt of an arrangement of elements that would change modern chemistry forever, then popped up about 20 minutes later to record it.
“I saw in a dream a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper … Only in one place did a correction later seem necessary.”
"Yesterday"
Paul McCartney was just 22 when he “woke up with a lovely tune in my head” and thought, “That’s great, I wonder what that is?’”
He got up and easily picked the tune out on the piano, but was convinced that it must have been something he heard years ago and subconsciously remembered. After further investigation revealed that it was a McCartney original, he jotted down some lyrics: “Scrambled eggs, oh, my baby, how I love your legs.”
The real words came later, obviously.
Frankenstein's Monster
Mary Shelley was hanging out with her husband (Percy Bysshe, of course), Lord Byron and some other literary notables when they decided to have a writing contest.
Mary was stuck—until she went to bed for the night, and had what she called a “waking dream” of a “hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion.”
Thrilled that her writer’s block was gone, Shelley decided that “What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow.”
See the rest of the story at Business Insider