Happy 100th Birthday, Dr. Albert Hofmann!
Dr. Albert Hofmann first discovered LSD-25 in 1938
ON JANUARY 11th, 2006
Dr. Hofmann turns 100 years old!
HAPPY 100th, DOC!
I suggest you take a moment on
January 11th to think about
your own on-going adventures
in human consciousness.
Where have you been?
Where are you going?
On April 16, 1943, Hofmann repeated the synthesis of LSD-25, but instead of testing it on mice this time, he accidently administered a small amount to himself. He was forced to suspend his work and proceed home because of the onset of "a not unpleasant intoxicated condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination." Thus Hofmann embarked on the first recorded acid trip in history.
Three days later he decided to systematically study the unexpected mental effects; he started by ingesting O.25 milligrams (the drug is now measured in micrograms -- 1mcg = .001mg) of the substance--a sizable dose in LSD terms. Feeling disoriented, he pedaled home once again, experiencing one of the most memorable bicycle rides in history. "Immediately, I recognized it as the same experience I had had as a child," he has said. Hofmann subsequently participated in LSD sessions with some of the most distinguished European writers and philsophers. Hofmann says that any natural scientist who is not a mystic is not a real natural scientist.
Hofmann's genius in organic chemistry was reconfirmed in 1958 when he synthesized psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. This was the drug used in the first two years of the Harvard Psychedelic Research Project, directed jointly by Timothy Leary, Ph.D., Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. and Richard Alpert, Ph.D. (aka RamDass). Hofmann believed in supplying psychedelic substances to qualified researchers for further study and the Harvard Project symbolized the first concerted effort by a group of American psychologists to use a psychedelic substance as a tool in the study of the human mind. Hoffman calls LSD "medicine for the soul" and is frustrated by the worldwide prohibition that has pushed it underground. "It was used very successfully for 10 years in psychoanalysis," Hoffman said.
With the onset of the Reagan era "War-on-Drugs" in the 1980s, a reactionary period of blanket prohibition, censorship and paranoid ignorance of all things psychedelic, the Albert Hofmann Foundation--and all the people who make it possible--transmit a strong, powerful message long overdue: the fact that the scientific achievement of psychedelic mind exploration is here to stay; as a matter of fact, the best is yet to come! Timothy Leary aptly summarized the foundation's message of optimistic encouragement and a future mission at an outdoor dedication ceremony for the Albert Hoffman Foundation held in July, 1988 in the Hollywood Hills: "Everything's gonna be alright, the fun has just begun!"
Three days later he decided to systematically study the unexpected mental effects; he started by ingesting O.25 milligrams (the drug is now measured in micrograms -- 1mcg = .001mg) of the substance--a sizable dose in LSD terms. Feeling disoriented, he pedaled home once again, experiencing one of the most memorable bicycle rides in history. "Immediately, I recognized it as the same experience I had had as a child," he has said. Hofmann subsequently participated in LSD sessions with some of the most distinguished European writers and philsophers. Hofmann says that any natural scientist who is not a mystic is not a real natural scientist.
"Everything comes from the sun via the plant kingdom." -Hofmann
Hofmann's genius in organic chemistry was reconfirmed in 1958 when he synthesized psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. This was the drug used in the first two years of the Harvard Psychedelic Research Project, directed jointly by Timothy Leary, Ph.D., Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. and Richard Alpert, Ph.D. (aka RamDass). Hofmann believed in supplying psychedelic substances to qualified researchers for further study and the Harvard Project symbolized the first concerted effort by a group of American psychologists to use a psychedelic substance as a tool in the study of the human mind. Hoffman calls LSD "medicine for the soul" and is frustrated by the worldwide prohibition that has pushed it underground. "It was used very successfully for 10 years in psychoanalysis," Hoffman said.
With the onset of the Reagan era "War-on-Drugs" in the 1980s, a reactionary period of blanket prohibition, censorship and paranoid ignorance of all things psychedelic, the Albert Hofmann Foundation--and all the people who make it possible--transmit a strong, powerful message long overdue: the fact that the scientific achievement of psychedelic mind exploration is here to stay; as a matter of fact, the best is yet to come! Timothy Leary aptly summarized the foundation's message of optimistic encouragement and a future mission at an outdoor dedication ceremony for the Albert Hoffman Foundation held in July, 1988 in the Hollywood Hills: "Everything's gonna be alright, the fun has just begun!"
For more information, contact:
The Albert Hofmann Foundation
P. O. Box 742
Lone Pine, CA 93545
http://www.hofmann.org/
Or read his decicive text on the subject (ONLINE!):
LSD, My Problem Child
by Dr. Albert Hofmann
The Albert Hofmann Foundation
P. O. Box 742
Lone Pine, CA 93545
http://www.hofmann.org/
Or read his decicive text on the subject (ONLINE!):
LSD, My Problem Child
by Dr. Albert Hofmann
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