Happy 100th Birthday, Professor Hofman!

international | history and heritage | other press

Wednesday January 11, 2006 12:25

by :-)

Irish commercial media (with the exception of the Belfast Telegraph) seem to have snubbed him. So a brief reminder that today sees Albert Hofman celebrate his 100th birthday.

Who is Hofman I hear the indymedia regular ask?

Dr. Albert Hofmann (born January 11, 1906) is a prominent Swiss scientist and best known as the "father" of LSD. He was born in Baden, Switzerland, and studied chemistry at the University of Zurich. His main interest was the chemistry of plants and animals, and he later conducted important research regarding the chemical structure of the common animal substance chitin, for which he received his doctorate. Hofmann joined the pharmaceutical-chemical department of Sandoz Laboratories, Basel (now Novartis), studying the medicinal plants squill and ergot as part of a program to purify and synthesize active constituents for use as pharmaceuticals.

His research in lysergic acid, the central shared component of ergot alkaloids, eventually led to the synthesis of LSD-25 in 1938. It was five years later, on repeating synthesis of the almost forgotten substance, that Dr. Hofmann discovered the psychedelic effects of LSD after accidentally ingesting some through his fingertips on April 16, 1943. Three days later, on April 19 (later known as Bicycle Day), Hofmann deliberately consumed 250 µg of LSD, and experienced far more intense effects (see: LSD for details). This was followed by a series of self-experiments conducted by Hofmann and his colleagues. He first wrote about these experiments on April 22.

answer :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann
and he invented :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD

coverage
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/International/2006/01/11/1388432-sun.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Switzerland_LSD_Inventor.html
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=34602006
Since LSD is certainly not a "free market" product, I think this link somewhat ironic-
http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=5087
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5536568,00.html

And this is the link to the Northern Trippers of Ulster's newspaper of reference
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=675391

Happy Birthday Mr Hofman.
:-)