Albert Hofmann, the Father of LSD, Dies at 102
Albert Hofmann, the Father of LSD, Dies at 102 - New York Times
PARIS — Albert Hofmann, the mystical Swiss chemist who gave the world LSD, the most powerful psychotropic substance known, died Tuesday at his hilltop home near Basel, Switzerland. He was 102.The cause was a heart attack, said Rick Doblin, founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a California-based group that in 2005 republished Dr. Hofmann’s 1979 book “LSD: My Problem Child.”
Dr. Hofmann first synthesized the compound lysergic acid diethylamide in 1938 but did not discover its psychopharmacological effects until five years later, when he accidentally ingested the substance that became known to the 1960s counterculture as acid.
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. That perception, of union, which came to Dr. Hofmann as almost a religious epiphany while still a child, directed much of his personal and professional life.
102 years old. When you think about all of the technological and social changes Dr. Hofmann lived through, it is almost like an acid trip itself. Imagine, when he was 21 years old, marijuana was still legal and would be for the next ten years of his life. He saw the first crude airplanes all the way to the space shuttle. He’s seen flappers to Pussycat Dolls, World War I to Gulf War II, and women and blacks go from non-voting second-class citizens to front-runners for the Democratic nomination for president.
But most of all, I’m always thrilled when outspoken users of illicit substances live long, fruitful lives. From Willie Nelson turning 75 to Dr. Hofmann living more than a century, it always reminds me that the prohibitions against drugs often have little to do with protecting our health. It also reminds me that, aside from George Burns, I rarely hear of a tobacco smoker and alcohol drinker making it to 100.
Tags: acid, Albert Hofmann, LSD
