In This Article
Subscribe to Science Updates
Inventor of LSD Dies at 102
May 01, 2008 02:30 PM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Albert Hofmann, the chemist who synthesized the hallucinogenic drug LSD in 1938, died of a heart attack Tuesday at his home in Basel, Switzerland.
30-Second Summary
Hofmann died of a heart attack at his home in Basel, Switzerland, reports The BBC. He is survived by two of his four children.
In 1938 the Swiss chemist created LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, while studying the medicinal uses of a crop fungus. He accidentally took in the drug when a small amount of it leaked onto his hand while he was working.
“In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight too unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense kaleidoscopic play of colours,” Hofmann said about his first acid trip, according to Vancouver online publication Straight. Hofmann later said that the trip was similar to a mystical experience he had had as a boy in Baden, according to a New York Times profile in 2006.
Hofmann often referred to LSD as his “problem child,” but also called it “medicine for the soul,” believing it could help reconnect people to the universe.
He remained convinced of the drug’s potential as a treatment for mental illness and was frustrated by its worldwide prohibition and its abuse by youth in the 1960s.
In 1938 the Swiss chemist created LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, while studying the medicinal uses of a crop fungus. He accidentally took in the drug when a small amount of it leaked onto his hand while he was working.
“In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight too unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense kaleidoscopic play of colours,” Hofmann said about his first acid trip, according to Vancouver online publication Straight. Hofmann later said that the trip was similar to a mystical experience he had had as a boy in Baden, according to a New York Times profile in 2006.
Hofmann often referred to LSD as his “problem child,” but also called it “medicine for the soul,” believing it could help reconnect people to the universe.
He remained convinced of the drug’s potential as a treatment for mental illness and was frustrated by its worldwide prohibition and its abuse by youth in the 1960s.
Headline Link: LSD inventor Albert Hofmann, 102
“Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror,” Hofmann said about the effect of the drug, when he became the first person in the world to go on an acid trip. Hofmann advocated for the drug as a treatment for mental illness, but it later became a popular street drug in the 1960s.
Source: The BBC
Background: 1984 interview with Hofmann, LSD symposium, profile at age 100
In 1984 an interview with Hofmann was conducted by Stanislav Grof at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, as part of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies’ effort to restart LSD psychotherapy research in the United States.
Source: The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
Wired reports on a symposium held on LSD in 2006, during which Hofmann was quoted as saying: “When you study natural science and the miracles of creation, if you don’t turn into a mystic you are not a natural scientist.”
Source: Wired
The New York Times profiled Hofmann when he became a centenarian in 2006 and reported that in his later years he was becoming more and more preoccupied with man’s oneness with nature and modern society’s increasing disconnect from the Earth. “In the big cities, there are people who have never seen living nature, all things are products of humans,” he said. “The bigger the town, the less they see and understand nature.”
Source: The New York Times
Related Topics: First acid trip, CIA project
Video: LSD chemist dies, aged 102
A BBC video chronicles LSD’s role in the hippie movement and includes an interview with Hofmann, who says that a tiny amount leaked onto his hand while he was working. He started having colorful visions and realized that they must have been caused by a substance in his laboratory.
Source: The BBC
© 2009 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
