ALBERT HOFMANN, (b: 1906) 29 April 2008) was a Swiss chemist known for being the first to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann’s team also isolated, named and synthesized the principal psychedelic mushroom compounds psilocybin and psilocin. He died on this date (b: 1906); He authored more than 100 scientific articles and numerous books, including LSD: Mein Sorgenkind (LSD: My Problem Child). In 2007, he shared first place with Tim Berners-Lee on a list of the 100 greatest living geniuses published by The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
In 1929 Hofmann became an employee of the pharmaceutical/chemical department of Sandoz Laboratories (now a subsidiary of Novartis) as a coworker of Arthur Stoll, founder and director of the pharmaceutical department. He began studying the medicinal plant Drimia maritima (squill) and the fungus ergot as part of a program to purify and synthesize active constituents for use as pharmaceuticals. His main contribution was to elucidate the chemical structure of the common nucleus of the Scilla glycosides (an active principle of Mediterranean squill). While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first synthesized LSD on November 16, 1938. The main intention of the synthesis was to obtain a respiratory and circulatory stimulant (analeptic) with no effects on the uterus in analogy to nikethamide (which is also a diethylamide) by introducing this functional group to lysergic acid. It was set aside for five years, until April 1943, when Hofmann reexamined it and discovered its powerful effects. He described what he felt as being: “…affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like consition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.”
Three days later, on April 19, 1943, Hofmann intentionally ingested 250 micrograms of LSD. This trip was not as pleasant, as he said those around him appeared to become demons, furniture shifted into wicked creatures and he himself felt demonically possessed. This day is now known as “Bicycle Day“, because he began to feel the effects of the drug as he rode home on a bike. This was the first intentional LSD trip.
Hofmann’s research with LSD influenced several psychiatrists, including Ronald A. Sandison, who developed its use in psychotherapy. Sandison’s treatment at Powick Hospital in England received international acclaim.
Hofmann continued to take small doses of LSD throughout his life, and always hoped to find a use for it. In his memoir, he emphasized it as a “sacred drug”: “I see the true importance of LSD in the possibility of providing material aid to meditation aimed at the mystical experience of a deeper, comprehensive reality.”
Interviewed shortly before his 100th birthday, Hofmann called LSD “medicine for the soul” and was frustrated by its worldwide prohibition. “It was used very successfully for ten years in psychoanalysis,” he said, adding that the drug was misused by the counterculture of the 1960s, and then criticized unfairly by the political establishment of the day. He conceded that it could be dangerous if misused, because a relatively high dose of 500 micrograms has an extremely powerful psychoactive effect, especially if administered to a first-time user without adequate supervision.
In December 2007, Swiss medical authorities allowed psychotherapist Peter Gasser to perform psychotherapeutic experiments on patients with terminal-stage cancer and other terminal diseases. Completed in 2011, these represent the first study of the therapeutic effects of LSD on humans in 35 years; other studies had examined the drug’s effects on consciousness and body. Hofmann acclaimed the study and reiterated his belief in LSD’s therapeutic benefits. In 2008, he wrote to Steve Jobs, asking him to support this research; it is not known whether Jobs responded. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has supported psychoanalytic research using LSD, carrying on Hofmann’s legacy and setting the groundwork for future studies.
It is documented that Hofmann was married and fathered three children. Nevertheless, Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, legendary godmother of the hippie counterculture, Jerry’s ex-wife, and mother of their two daughters, remembers Hofmann in her momoir as “a saint and a mystic, and a gay man, just a sweetheart”. As Talullah Bankhead would say (when asked if she thought James Dean was gay) “Well, I don’t know. He never sucked my cock.”
Hofmann died on this date, age of 102, from a heart attack in Switzerland.