Moments of Inspiration
So Sheri Mizumori, the last professor for my neurobiology course, made a claim in her last lecture that has been vexing me since. As an aside while making another point, she stated (something along the lines of) that it was commonly anecdotal for famous scientific revelations to have been had while walking. The rest of the class had a brain-click "Hey..." moment, whereas I immediately drew a blank. A couple days later, I'm still drawing a blank. So consider this a call for submissions: if you can think of any famous "Eureka!" moments attached to specific scientists or discoveries, please let me know. All of the ones I've thought of thus far (& can still remember) will be listed below, and I'll add yours as their posted. Non-scientific entries are acceptable, as long as they are distinctly moments of problem-solving revelation.
* Archimedes, of course, famously had the original "Eureka!" moment as he lowered himself into a public bath (regardless of whether or not such ever really happened).
* From what I recall, Watson & Crick determined the structure of DNA by machining models of the purines and pyrimidines based on Franklin's X-ray diffraction data and tinkering around until they figured it out.
* Albert Einstein: I was going to argue that he developed most of his famous big ideas while working at the patent office, a position that doesn't seem conducive to walking. But I've decided that's a pretty BS argument, on further reflection.
* Isaac Newton was inspired to ponder if his nascent laws of gravitation could be applied to celestial bodies as he sat and watched an apple fall from a tree.
Unfortunately, I can't remember any of the other examples I'd thought of over the weekend.
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* Please note that I'm not claiming that the claim is false (especially since it's difficult to prove that an explicitly anecdotal claim as false), it's just made me curious since I can't come up with any examples.
* Archimedes, of course, famously had the original "Eureka!" moment as he lowered himself into a public bath (regardless of whether or not such ever really happened).
* From what I recall, Watson & Crick determined the structure of DNA by machining models of the purines and pyrimidines based on Franklin's X-ray diffraction data and tinkering around until they figured it out.
* Albert Einstein: I was going to argue that he developed most of his famous big ideas while working at the patent office, a position that doesn't seem conducive to walking. But I've decided that's a pretty BS argument, on further reflection.
* Isaac Newton was inspired to ponder if his nascent laws of gravitation could be applied to celestial bodies as he sat and watched an apple fall from a tree.
Unfortunately, I can't remember any of the other examples I'd thought of over the weekend.
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* Please note that I'm not claiming that the claim is false (especially since it's difficult to prove that an explicitly anecdotal claim as false), it's just made me curious since I can't come up with any examples.