Biography
Swiss chemist dubbed “the
father of LSD” who later wrote a book called, “LSD, My Problem Child.”
Hofmann discovered LSD by accident on April 16, 1943 while he was an
employee of a pharmaceutical company in Basel, Switzerland. He had been
working in the lab when he inadvertently got some on his fingers that
afternoon (his journal entry says "the middle of the afternoon"). Three
days later, he conducted an deliberate official test.
Hofmann was the oldest of four children. Always enthralled by the
natural world, he was fascinated by plants and how they interact with
the human body. In 1927, after graduation from the University of Zurich,
he joined Sandoz Pharmaceuticals where he was assigned to investigating
plants’ medicinal properties. He began to study ergot, a rye fungus. By
1938 ergot was synthesized and some of its compounds proved useful in
treating medical conditions. He noted his reactions when he isolated a
compound called LSD-25 and accidentally exposed himself to it. The
aftereffects were reminiscent of a mystical feeling that came over him
as a child when he was wandering through a field: a spiritual oneness
with nature. He called LSD “medicine for the soul” and for its first
several years, it proved useful in treating psychiatric disorders. In
1984,he told psychiatrist Stanislav Grof that his experience with the
drug made him "aware of the wonder of creation, the magnificence of
nature and of the animal and plant kingdom."
Hofmann disapproved of LSD’s widespread recreational use in the 1960s
and was disappointed that such drug abuse effectively put an end to
scientific experiments that could have benefited humanity. Throughout
his life he maintained that LSD ought to be treated with the same care
and control as morphine.
In his career with Sandoz, he worked on other hallucinogenic plants and
researched their sacred uses by native civilizations. He retired in 1971
as the company’s director of research for the department of natural
products. After his retirement he served on the Nobel Prize Committee,
was a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences and held membership in
scientific organizations researching medicinal qualities of plants. The
Albert Hoffmann Foundation was established in 1988 to continue and
expand his work in human consciousness.
Hofmann and his wife, Anita had four children. One son predeceased them
in a battle with alcoholism. Anita died in December 2007. Hofmann
suffered a fatal heart attack on April 29, 2008 around 9 AM in Basel,
Switzerland, age 102.
|
