A model of LSD, the drug that stimulated Albert Hofmann's imagination

Date

c. 1990

Description

Creator of the image: Tageswoche agency
Date of the image creation: c. 1990
Medium: Photograph
Encounter depicted: Albert Hofmann

One day in 1943, the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann (1906–2008) was working in a laboratory synthesising pharmaceutical substances from the fungus ergot, when he came across a compound called lysergic acid diethylamide, perhaps better known by its initials, LSD. While dabbling with this chemical, Hofmann accidentally got some of the it on his hand, which then made its way into his mouth or eye, and thus into his blood stream. Later he described himself 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.'

Three days after this mystical experience, Hofmann intentionally ingested 250 micrograms of the substance and it began affecting him while he was riding his bicycle home from the lab. He understood immediately, that if used correctly, LSD could be an important tool in investigating human consciousness. LSD went on to become a psychiatric drug used for psychological research. Almost 10,000 scientific papers were generated between 1943 and 1970, thus making it one of the most researched pharmacological substances. In later research, Hofmann discovered that the molecule LSD has a very similar chemical structure to those found in plants used as sacraments for thousands of years by various indigenous cultures. He went on to be the first chemist to isolate the psychoactive compounds psilocybin and psilocine, which put the ‘magic’ in magic mushrooms.

LSD had significant impacts well beyond the fields of medical research. It became bound up with the late 1960s counter-cultural movement, anti-war, free love, psychedelic music, art, and consciousness-expanding philosophy. LSD was also investigated by the CIA to test its potential for mind control, super-solders and chemical warfare as part of their infamous Project MKUltra. In 1968 possession of LSD was made illegal in the United States, as part of the War on Drugs and general repression of the late 1960s uprisings.

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