German chemist Friedrich Kekulé was having a reverie, or daydream, of a snake biting its own tail, and he started wondering if the six carbon atoms in the benzene molecule had a similar structure. This hallucinatory experience led to the discovery of the hexagonal ring structure with alternating single and double bonds, a ground-breaking concept in organic chemistry. Kekule was not the only one.
Dmitri Mendeleev reportedly had a vision of the periodic table and Edison claimed to mine his dreams for material.
Writer Stephen King claimed to have dreamt up his novel Misery during a somnolent flight, and the masterpieces of Van Gogh and Salvador Dali were often inspired by hallucinations.
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