William Dement (1928 – 2020), sleep doctor who coined the term “REM”
Dr. William Dement was a scientist who developed the field of sleep research and coined the term “REM,” or rapid eye movement, to describe the stage of sleep when dreaming takes place.When Dement began researching sleep in the 1950s, it was not well understood, and few scientists gave it much thought. But Dement’s groundbreaking research showed just how important sleep is and how drastically we can be affected by drowsiness as we’re driving, working, or studying.