Albert Hofmann Changed Things
April 16, 1943
Jason Falkner performed this instrumental cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds YouTube link
Albert Hofmann Changed Things
Not April 19
Today is not April 19, aka Bicycle Day, the day in 1943 when Albert Hofmann deliberately ingested lysergic acid diethylamide and decided to ride his bicycle home to relax and recover.
Albert Hofmann Changed Things
Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann was born on January 11, 1906 in Baden, Switzerland. He attended the University of Zürich and graduated in 1929 with a doctorate in medicinal chemistry.
Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland hired him for a program that was developing methods for synthesizing compounds found in medicinal plants. It was there that Hofmann stumbled upon LSD-25 (the 25th such derivative tested) in 1938.
Albert Hofmann Changed Things
Set aside
He put it aside for five years until on April 16, 1943. On that day, when Hofman accidentally consumed LSD-25 and experienced unusual sensations and hallucinations.
In his notes, he related the experience: “Last Friday, April 16, 1943, 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. 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.”
He came to the conclusion that it could be of significant use in psychiatric treatment and spent years investigating LSD’s hallucinogenic properties. He disapproved of the casual recreational use of LSD.
Albert Hofmann Changed Things
Problem Child
Hofmann did believe that in addition to LSD’s possible psychiatric uses, it could also be used in spiritual contexts. He proposed those ideas in his book LSD, mein Sorgenkind (LSD: My Problem Child, 1980).
The following is a brief video where he discusses his surprise at discovering an alternate reality in which the world transmits through our senses (acting like an aerial) and our consciousness acts like a TV screen.
Albert Hofmann Changed Things
Long legacy
Hofmann died of a heart attack on April 29, 2008, but even today, the idea of using LSD as more than a recreational compound–using it for therapeutic use–is still a fringe part of scientific research.
- Related link >>> NYT obit
- Related link >>> Britannica bio