Albert Hofmann, 102, Invented LSD

By Staff Reporter of the Sun
April 30, 2008

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who invented LSD, the first synthesized psychedelic drug, died at home yesterday in Basel, Switzerland. He was 102.

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Dr. Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of the drug Lysergic Acid Diethlyamide, or LSD, in 1976.

He was nearly as famous for having taken the world's first acid trip. Having accidentally ingested a tiny amount of the lysergic acid diethylamide he was experimenting with, he began hallucinating and went home, where: "I drew the curtains and immediately fell into a peculiar state of 'drunkenness,' characterized by an exaggerated imagination. With my eyes closed, fantastic pictures of extraordinary plasticity and intensive color seemed to surge towards me. After two hours, this state gradually subsided and I was able to eat dinner with a good appetite."

Three days later, April 19, 1943, he purposely ingested .25 milligram to test the effects. Experiencing more intense hallucinations, he decided to bicycle home. Aficionados still refer to the world's first acid trip as "bicycle day."

Hofmann at the time worked for Sandoz in Basel, investigating the medicinal properties of alkaloids in rye ergot, a common fungus. LSD-25, as it became known, was marketed as a psychiatric drug under the name Delysid and more than 2,000 research papers were published about it by 1965. But after Timothy Leary and others began using it as a recreational drug, governments around the world banned it and research dried up.

Hofmann though remained certain that the drug had great potential to counter psychological problems brought on by modernity. In his memoir, "LSD, My Problem Child" (1980), he describes confronting Leary for effectively killing LSD research. But Leary "maintained that I was unjustified in reproaching him for the seduction of immature persons to drug consumption."

Born in Baden, Switzerland, on January 11, 1906, Hofmann was at first an apprentice to a tradesman to support his family after his father fell ill. Later, he attended the University of Zurich, receiving a doctorate in 1930. At Sandoz (now Novartis) he developed drugs, including one helpful in prompting uterine contractions to stop postpartum bleeding. LSD was initially studied for its circulatory properties, which were essentially nil.

After his initial experiences with LSD, Hofmann continued to investigate psychedelics. He took mescaline with the German novelist Ernst Junger, and also did research with psychedelic drugs using human subjects. In 1958 he isolated and named psilocybin, the active ingredient of "magic mushrooms." He also investigated the psychedelic qualities of morning glory seeds. In retirement, he served on the Nobel Prize Committee. He wrote a number of books on hallucinogens and their history, including "Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries" (1978).

Still active in his 11th decade, he attended a conference in Basel two years ago. Among the attendees was Rick Doblin, president of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a Ben Lomond, Calif. organization that supports research into therapeutic uses of psychotropic drugs. Mr. Doblin said that Hofmann was excited that psychological studies of LSD have recently been renewed.

"We're incredibly lucky that LSD came to somebody as wise and compassionate as Albert," Mr. Doblin said. He added, "Albert's as amazing as the LSD."