Albert Hofmann was born in 1906.

  Graduates from the University of Zurich in 1927, joins Sandoz Pharmaceuticals as a research chemist. Begins to study ergot, a particular type of rye fungus, Claviceps Purpurea thought to be responsible for the extreme ecstasies and agonies of St. Vitus Dance and St. Anthony's Fire or "dry gangrene". In 1938 synthesizes the 25th derivative of lysergic acid. Tested on mice to no noticeable effect.

  April 16, 1943 Hofmann repeats synthesis. Accidentally doses himself, in an historic event now celebrated as Bicycle Day. Describes this "an uninterrupted stream of fantastic images of extraordinary plasticity and vividness and accompanied by an intense kaleidoscopic play of colors."

  April 19, at 4:20 p.m., Hofmann dissolves 250 micrograms of LSD-25 in a glass of water. A little after 5:00, feeling intensely strange, he decides to go home, and makes one of the most famous bicycle rides in history. The world begins to restructure.

  In 1958 he isolates and synthesizes the active principles in Teonanacatl, the hallucinogenic Mexican mushrooms: psilocybine and psilocine. He also discovers the hallucinogenic principles of Ololiuqui (Morning Glory), lysergic acid amide and lysergic acid hydroxyethylamide.

  In the mid-70's, along with R Gordon Wasson, Hofmann suggests that primal societies and the ancient Greeks had discovered methods by which to isolate LSD, and other entheogens, from ergots.

  In 1988, the Albert Hofmann Foundation is founded "to assemble and maintain an international library and archive devoted to the study of human consciousness and related fields."

Other Links

• Insight Outlook (86 pp) 7/89
   

• Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers : Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann
   

• LSD: My Problem Child, Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism and Science
   

• Online Version of LSD, My Problem Child
   

• Hofmann on Leary (from High Times) [ also check Biography Project page on Timothy Leary ]
   

• More Information On LSD Than You Can Imagine
   

• The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
   

• The Albert Hofmann Foundation
   

• Heffter Research Institute (psychedelic research)
   

• U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration on LSD

Major Works

• Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens, 1973

• Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries (with R. Gordon Wasson & C. Ruck), 1978
   

• LSD: My Problem Child, Reflections on Sacred Drugs, Mysticism and Science, 1980
   

• Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing & Hallucinogenic Powers (with Richard Evans Schultes ), 1979, 1992