LSD and the discovery of its psychoactive effects
LSD y el descubrimiento de sus efectos psicoactivos
- Date
- 1938 (síntesis) / 1943 (efectos psicoactivos) · confidence high
- Place
- Sandoz Laboratories, Basel, Switzerland
- Credited to
- Albert Hofmann
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Hofmann synthesised lysergic acid diethylamide in 1938 while searching for a circulatory stimulant; five years later, after accidental re-exposure, he deliberately dosed himself on 19 April 1943 and discovered its intense psychoactive effects while cycling home.
'Bicycle Day' (19 April 1943) is commemorated annually as the birth of modern psychedelia.
What it led to
- Psychopharmacology and the scientific study of altered states of consciousness
- Experimental use in psychiatry during the 1950s-60s
- Legal prohibition of LSD (1966-1971) and the end of open clinical research
Built on
- Ergot alkaloids
Made possible
- Psychedelic drugs for therapeutic use