The Resume

(May 6, 1921-July 22, 1998)
Discovered REM (rapid eye movement) sleep (1953)
He and his thesis advisor, Nathaniel Klatman, are considered the founders of modern sleep research

Why he might be annoying:

He recalled that when he started studying with Klatman, ‘Sleep was perhaps the least desirable of the scientific areas I wished to pursue.’
He initially planned to call his discovery ‘jerky eye movement,’ but worried that critics would have a field day playing off the word ‘jerk.’
He admitted, ‘I am stubborn and have never taken kindly to working with others.’
He died when his car ran into a tree, probably as a result of his falling asleep at the wheel.

Why he might not be annoying:

He graduated high school at age sixteen.
He did so well on the entrance exam for the University of Chicago's graduate school that he was admitted despite lacking an undergraduate degree.
He proceeded to find that heart rates and respiration increased during REM, that sleepers could have multiple periods of REM, and that people woken during REM had better recall of their dreams.
His discoveries triggered a revolution in the understanding of sleep, which previously had been viewed as a time when the brain essentially shut itself off and did nothing.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Scientists
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 92]
• I Attended University of Chicago
• I Died in 1998 (Ranked: 77)
• I Earned a Doctorate
• I was Involved in a Car Accident in 1998
• Profiles 56751-57000 (Ranked: 56984)
• Scientists

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 16 Votes: 43.75% Annoying