Hofmann Discovers LSD: Consciousness Unlocked
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally absorbed a small quantity of lysergic acid diethylamide through his fingertips on April 16, 1943, while synthesizing compounds from ergot fungus at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel. He experienced two hours of "remarkable restlessness" and visual distortions. Three days later, on April 19, he deliberately ingested 250 micrograms and rode his bicycle home during the world's first intentional acid trip, a journey now celebrated as "Bicycle Day." LSD proved to be active at extraordinarily small doses, over 100 times more potent than mescaline. The CIA experimented with it in the MKUltra program. Psychiatrists used it therapeutically until it was banned in 1968. Recent clinical trials have revived interest in treating PTSD and depression with psychedelics.
April 16, 1943
83 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on April 16
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Otho killed himself just three months after taking the throne. His troops had lost at Bedriacum to Vitellius, and the emperor decided a quick death was better t…
The Jewish defenders of Masada, numbering 960 men, women, and children under Eleazar ben Ya'ir, chose mass suicide rather than surrender to the Roman Tenth Legi…
In 682, a man named Leo got voted in while sitting on a chair that wasn't even holy yet. He'd wait six weeks for his actual consecration, staring at empty stone…
Robert Guiscard captured the port of Bari, extinguishing five centuries of Byzantine authority in Southern Italy. This collapse forced the Eastern Roman Empire …
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