RIP Albert Hofmann - April 30, 2008
Chemist Albert Hofmann has died at the age of 102.
In 1938 Hofmann isolated lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, while working for the Sandoz chemical company. As he notes in his book LSD: My Problem Child, not a lot happened immediately:
The research report also noted, in passing, that the experimental animals became restless during the narcosis. The new substance, however, aroused no special interest in our pharmacologists and physicians; testing was therefore discontinued.
However five years later he found himself in a dreamlike state. After concluding this was related to the lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate he had just started working with again, possibly through accidental absorption through his fingernails, he notes:
There seemed to be only one way of getting to the bottom of this. I decided on a self-experiment.
The NY Times notes, “He then took LSD hundreds of times, but regarded it as a powerful and potentially dangerous psychotropic drug that demanded respect. More important to him than the pleasures of the psychedelic experience was the drug’s value as a revelatory aid for contemplating and understanding what he saw as humanity’s oneness with nature.”
Although mainly remembered for LSD he continued to work at Sandoz, retiring as Director of Research for the Department of Natural Products in 1971 (Daily Telegraph).
Hofmann was unhappy that research on the drug had been curtailed following its adoption into the counter-culture and subsequent moral panic. On a happier note, Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, recently spoke to Hofmann:
[We] spoke on the phone the day after the Basel conference and he was happy and fulfilled. He’d seen the renewal of LSD psychotherapy research with his own eyes, as had [his wife] Anita. I said that I looked forward to discussing the results of the study with him in about a year and a half and he laughed and said he’d try to help the research however he could, either from this side or ‘the other side’.
MAPS also has a wonderful picture of Hofmann adorning its homepage.
Hofmann’s book Albert Hofmann: LSD - My Problem Child is currently readable here.
Bad taste award: the headline writers at AFP, who came up with 'Father of LSD' takes final trip
Comments
Surprising that his work in natural products hasn't been mentioned in writeups of his passing, specifically his discovery of psilocybin/psilocin. Albert Hoffman was a great chemist, his work, apochryphal, the stuff of legend. The world lost a great scientist today.
Posted by: R. Fenstemacher | April 30, 2008 08:04 PM
I think he lived the rest of his life like an astronaut after a spacewalk :)
Posted by: Sebastian Gonzalez | May 1, 2008 04:59 AM
LSD is life.
Perfect example, Albert Hofmann.
Man, I wanna live 102 years like u!
Rest in Peace :)
Posted by: Akemy | May 1, 2008 07:30 PM
On death, Hofmann said, “I go back to where I came from, to where I was before I was born, that’s all.”
On April 19th, 1943, Hofmann created the most powerful psychotropic substance: LSD, and experienced the first LSD “trip”. He was a chemist who valued a drug as a way to understand people’s oneness with nature. For the complete story on “Bicycle Day”, be sure to watch this amazing documentary Hofmann’s Potion
Posted by: Jean | May 2, 2008 08:04 PM
I agree with Akemy....
Posted by: Susan | May 8, 2008 04:39 AM