Albert Hoffman discovers LSD

Albert Hoffman would have something in common with Breaking Bad’s Walter White. In a routine experiment in his lab in Bazel, Switzerland, he synthesized a new chemical drug compound. One which, it was theorized, might help with respiratory diseases, or perhaps childbirth. His main goal, in any case, was to delve into the molecular structures of the plants from which his drugs came from. For five years his research sat shelved before Hoffman re-discovered it and launched a minor revolution among trip-seekers.

On this day, April 16, in 1943 Hoffman accidentally absorbed a small amount of his compound. What he described, in a report written to his colleague that same day, was “a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination.” He continued, “in a dreamlike state, with eyes closed … 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 later Hoffman was ready to try his experiment again. This time ingesting a small dose of the compound, he quickly began experiencing visions. Taking the bicycle back home, he recorded in his diary feelings of extreme paranoia, followed by euphoric visions of lights. LSD enthusiasts now celebrate that day as “Bicycle Day,” although Hoffman himself expressed serious doubts about recreational use of the drug: “Since my self-experiment had revealed LSD in its ter­rifying, demonic aspect, the last thing I could have expected was that this substance could ever find ap­plication as anything approaching a pleasure drug.”