RIP Albert Hofmann

sur_1_nuage

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered the hallucinogenic drug LSD, has died of a heart attack at his home in Basel at the age of 102.

Mr Hofmann first produced LSD in 1938 while researching the medicinal uses of a crop fungus.

He accidentally ingested some of the drug and said later: "Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror".

He hoped LSD could be used to treat mental illness, but it became a popular street drug in the 1960s.

'Turn on, tune in, drop out'

While working with the drug in the Sandoz pharmaceutical laboratory a few years after first producing it, Mr Hofmann ingested some of the drug through his fingertips.

He went home and experienced what he described as visions of "fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours".

The drug was popularised by Harvard professor Timothy Leary who suggested that people "turn on, tune in, drop out".

Rock stars and the counter-culture of the 1960s picked up LSD as a wonder drug but horror stories began to emerge of users suffering permanent psychological damage.

LSD was made illegal in many countries beginning in the late 1960s.

KevIRL

sur_1_nuage wrote: »

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who discovered the hallucinogenic drug LSD, has died of a heart attack at his home in Basel at the age of 102.

He had a good trip anyway.

RIP

jonny68

RIP, not done Acid since 1997 but credit to this man anyway.

Scubadevils

RIP!

He certainly did live a long life.

SoulRock

Although Gone..
always in my Mind
Rest In Peace