RSS
April 29, 2008
Father of LSD, Albert Hofmann, Dies at 102
Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered LSD, died at his home near Basel, Switzerland on Tuesday.
Hofmann synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) in 1938 and five years later became the first person to experience a full-blown acid trip.
On April 16, 1943, Hofmann inadvertently absorbed a little LSD-25 compound in his fingertips at the Sandoz laboratory (now Novartis) where he worked. In a note to the lab director he described what happened next:
“I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination.The following Monday -- y'know, to verify the side-effects -- Hofmann ingested 1/4mg of the drug and asked his assistant to ride him home on his bicycle once the effects began to kick in:"In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed, I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours. After some two hours this condition faded away.”
"Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had travelled very rapidly.”Sandoz initially tried to profit from Hofmann's invention, although later his managing director famously said: “I would rather you hadn’t discovered LSD."
By the early 1950s, LSD made it to campus -- for academic and research purposes. Dr. Sidney Cohen commissioned three UCLA doctoral dissertations in which at least 80 "members of academia" tested the psychotic and psychedelic effects of the drug.
British author Aldous Huxley, who spent the last 25 years of his life in Los Angeles, first took acid in 1955 and later had it injected while on his death bed.
And then there was Timothy Leary, Ginsberg, Kesey, our aunts and uncles, and you and me.
The Albert Hofmann Foundation was established in Santa Monica in 1988 to "further the understanding and responsible application of psychedelic substances in the investigation of both individual and collective consciousness."
Hofmann called LSD “medicine for the soul.” In a 2006 NYT interview he said:
“I know LSD; I don’t need to take it anymore.... Maybe when I die, like Aldous Huxley.”
Photo by midi8 via flickr.
|
Wow, I never knew that about LSD and Los Angeles.
I would also recommend Be Here Now by Dr. Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass.
The book used to cost $13.13, but I guess it now lists at $15.15.UCLA continues to be a leading researcher in the medical uses of psychedelic drugs. Dr. Charles Grob leads studies out of UCLA-Harbor Med Center to this day.
Check out this great March 11, 1966 Time article "An Epidemic of 'Acid Heads'" in which:
* "A 17-year-old user reports that there is a sales ring in his Sherman Oaks school pushing LSD at a penny a microgram."
* The disease is striking in beachside beatnik pads and in the dormitories of expensive prep schools; it has grown into an alarming problem at U.C.L.A. [...] "Florid & Terrifying." Southern California devotees proclaim the alleged benefits of LSD with evangelistic fervor. They say it brings supernatural powers. It does not, say U.C.L.A. psychiatrists...
At least he had a long and happy life, at least from the looks of that picture. Of course, I'd be laughing too if I was surrounded by giant bats who thought they were people.
"Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley, is another very good book written about the author's own experiences trying various types of psycadelics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doors_of_perception
RIP Albert! Thank you for some very strange and wonderful experiences.
Thank you for all the great journeys Albert!