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Albert Hofmann - Wikiwand

Albert Hofmann (11 January 1906 – 29 April 2008)[1][2] was a Swiss scientist known best for

being the first person to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid

diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann was also the first person to isolate, synthesize, and name the

principal psychedelic mushroom compounds psilocybin and psilocin.[3] He authored more than

100 scientific articles and numerous books, including LSD: Mein Sorgenkind (LSD: My Problem

Child).[2] In 2007, he shared first place with Tim Berners-Lee in a list of the 100 greatest living

geniuses, published by The Telegraph newspaper.[4]

Life and career

Hofmann was born in Baden, Switzerland, the first of four children to factory toolmaker Adolf

Hofmann and his wife Elisabeth (born Elisabeth Schenk). Owing to his father's low income,

Albert's godfather paid for his education. When his father became ill, Hofmann obtained a

position as a commercial apprentice in concurrence with his studies. At the age of twenty,

Hofmann began his chemistry degree at the University of Zürich, finishing three years later, in

1929. His main interest was the chemistry of plants and animals, and he later conducted

important research on the chemical structure of the common animal substance chitin, for which

he received his doctorate with distinction in 1929.[5]

Regarding his decision to pursue a career as a chemist, Hofmann provided insight during a

speech he delivered to the 1996 Worlds of Consciousness Conference in Heidelberg,

Germany:

One often asks oneself what roles planning and chance play in the realization of

the most important events in our lives. [...] This [career] decision was not easy for

me. I had already taken a Latin matricular exam, and therefore a career in the

humanities stood out most prominently in the foreground. Moreover, an artistic

career was tempting. In the end, however, it was a problem of theoretical

knowledge which induced me to study chemistry, which was a great surprise to all

who knew me. Mystical experiences in childhood, in which Nature was altered in

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magical ways, had provoked questions concerning the essence of the external,

material world, and chemistry was the scientific field which might afford insights

into this.[6]

Discovery of LSD

Hofmann became an employee of the pharmaceutical/chemical department of Sandoz

Laboratories (now a subsidiary of Novartis), located in Basel as a coworker with professor

Arthur Stoll, founder and director of the pharmaceutical department.[7] 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

principal of Mediterranean squill).[7] While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first

synthesized LSD on 16 November 1938.[8] 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 16 April 1943, when Hofmann decided to reexamine it.

While re-synthesizing LSD, he accidentally touched his hand to his mouth, nose or possibly

eye, ingesting a small amount,[9] 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 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.[10]

Three days later, on 19 April 1943, Hofmann intentionally ingested 250 micrograms of LSD.

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.[11]

Hofmann continued to take small doses of LSD throughout much of 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."[12]

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Further research

It gave me an inner joy, an open mindedness, a gratefulness, open eyes and an internal

sensitivity for the miracles of creation.... I think that in human evolution it has never been as
“ ”
necessary to have this substance LSD. It is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed

to be.

— Albert Hofmann, Speech on 100th birthday[13]

Hofmann later discovered 4-Acetoxy-DET (4-acetoxy-N,N-diethyltryptamine, also known as

ethacetin, ethylacybin, or 4-AcO-DET) a hallucinogenic tryptamine. He first synthesized 4-AcO-

DET in 1958 in the Sandoz lab. Hofmann became director of Sandoz' natural products

department and continued studying hallucinogenic substances found in Mexican mushrooms

and other plants used by aboriginal people there. This led to the synthesis of psilocybin, the

active agent of many "magic mushrooms."[14] Hofmann also became interested in the seeds of

the Mexican morning glory species Turbina corymbosa, which are called ololiuhqui by natives.

He was surprised to find the active compound of ololiuhqui, ergine (LSA, lysergic acid amide) to

be closely related to LSD.

In 1962, Hofmann and his wife Anita Hofmann (née Guanella, sister of Gustav Guanella, an

important Swiss inventor) traveled to southern Mexico to search for the plant "Ska Maria

Pastora" (Leaves of Mary the Shepherdess), later known as Salvia divinorum. He was able to

obtain samples of this plant, but never succeeded in identifying its active compound, which has

since been identified as the diterpenoid salvinorin A. In 1963, Hofmann attended the annual

convention of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS) in Stockholm.

Later years

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Albert Hofmann in 2006

Hofmann, interviewed shortly before his hundredth birthday, called LSD "medicine for the soul"

and was frustrated by the worldwide prohibition of it. "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 will

have an extremely powerful psychoactive effect, especially if administered to a first-time user

without adequate supervision.[15]

In December 2007, Swiss medical authorities allowed psychotherapist Peter Gasser to perform

psycho-therapeutic experiments on patients suffering from terminal-stage cancer and other

deadly 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.[16] Hofmann acclaimed the study and reiterated his belief in LSD's therapeutic

benefits.[17] In 2008, Hofmann wrote to Steve Jobs, asking him to support this research; it is not

known if Jobs responded.[18] The Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

has supported psychoanalytic research using LSD, carrying on Hofmann's legacy and setting

the groundwork for future studies.[19]

Hofmann was to speak at the World Psychedelic Forum[20] from 21 to 24 March 2008, but had

to cancel because of ill health.

Hofmann was a long-time friend and correspondent of German author and entomologist Ernst

Jünger, whom he met in 1949. Jünger experimented with LSD with Hofmann; in 1970, Jünger
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published a book of his experiences taking several types of drugs, Annäherungen. Drogen und

Rausch (Approaches: Drugs and Intoxication).

Hofmann's papers

After retiring from Sandoz in 1971, Hofmann was allowed to take his papers and research

home. He gave his archives to the Albert Hofmann Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit,

but the documents mostly sat in storage for years. The archives were sent to the San Francisco

area in 2002 to be digitized, but that process was never completed. In 2013, the archives were

sent to the Institute of Medical History in Bern, Switzerland, where they are currently being

organized.[21]

Death

Hofmann died of a heart attack on 29 April 2008, surrounded by several grandchildren and

great-grandchildren. He and his wife, Anita, who died in 2007, raised four children.[22]

Honors and awards

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) honored him with the title D.Sc.

(honoris causa) in 1969 together with Gustav Guanella, his brother-in-law. In 1971 the Swedish

Pharmaceutical Association (Sveriges Farmacevtförbund) granted him the Scheele Award,

which commemorates the skills and achievements of the Swedish Pomeranian chemist and

pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.[23]

1. ^ "Albert Hofmannf". Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Archived from

the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2008.

2. ^ a b "Obituary: Albert Hofmann, LSD inventor". London: Daily Telegraph. 29 April 2008.

Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2008.

3. ^ Hofmann, A. "Psilocybin und Psilocin, zwei psychotrope Wirkstoffe aus mexikanischen

Rauschpilzen." Helvetica Chemica Acta 42: 1557–1572 (1959).

4. ^ "Top 100 living geniuses". The Daily Telegraph. London. 30 October 2007.

5. ^ Dieter Hagenbach; Lucius Werthmüller; Stanislav Grof (2013). Mystic Chemist: The

Life of Albert Hofmann and His Discovery of LSD (First English ed.). Santa Fe, NM:

Synergetic Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-907791-46-1.

6. ^ Hoffman, Albert; J. Ott (1996). "LSD: Completely Personal". Newsletter of the

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. 6 (3). Retrieved 7 November 2013.

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29.7.2018 Albert Hofmann - Wikiwand :: Reader View

7. ^ a b "LSD, My Problem Child". psychedelic-library.org. Retrieved 16 November 2009.

8. ^ Dr. Albert Hofmann; translated from the original German (LSD Ganz persönlich) by J.

Ott. MAPS-Vol. 6, No. 69 (Summer 1969)

9. ^ "LSD inventor Albert Hofmann dies". BBC News. 30 April 2008.

10. ^ Hofmann 1980, p. 15

11. ^ http://blog.oup.com/2013/04/bicycle-day-lsd-albert-hoffman/

12. ^ Roberts, Jacob (2017). "High Times". Distillations. 2 (4): 36–39. Retrieved 22 March

2018.

13. ^ "LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug?". Wired.com. 16 January 2006. Retrieved 29 April

2008.

14. ^ Bleidt, Barry; Michael Montagne (1996). Clinical Research in Pharmaceutical

Development. Informa Health Care. pp. 36, 42–43. ISBN 0-8247-9745-0.

15. ^ Smith, Craig S. (7 January 2006). "New York Times article". The New York Times.

16. ^ "LSD-Assisted Psychotherapy for Anxiety". Multidisciplinary Association for

Psychedelic Studies. 21 October 2011.

17. ^ "The comeback of LSD – swissinfo.ch".

18. ^ Weldon, Carolyne (17 August 2012). "Meet the Lab Coat-Clad Granddaddies of LSD".

NFB.ca blog. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 17 August 2012.

19. ^ "LSD-Assisted Psychotherapy for Anxiety". Multidisciplinary Association for

Psychedelic Studies. 7 September 2011.

20. ^ "World Psychedelic Forum".

21. ^ Letzing, John. "LSD Archive Has Been on a Long, Strange Trip". Wall Street Journal.

ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 20 October 2015.

22. ^ Craig S Smith (30 April 2008). "Albert Hofmann, the Father of LSD, Dies at 102". The

New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2013.

23. ^ "The Scheele Award" (PDF). The Scheele Award. Swedish Academy of

Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2005. Retrieved 15 December 2013.

Horowitz, Michael. "Interview with Albert Hofmann", High Times (1976)

Nathaniel S. Finney, Jay S. Siegel: In Memoriam – Albert Hofmann (1906–2008). Chimia

62 (2008), 444–447, doi:10.2533/chimia.2008.444

Roberts, Andy. Albion Dreaming: A Popular History of LSD in Britain (2008), Marshall

Cavendish, U.K, 978-1905736270/1905736274

Hagenbach, Dieter and Lucius Werthmüller. Mystic Chemist: The Life of Albert Hofmann

and His Discovery of LSD (Synergetic Press, 2013). ISBN 978-090779146-1

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