ALBERT HOFMANN, LSD INVENTOR, DIES

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss scientist who invented the LSD and became
the first person in the world to experience a full-blown acid trip,
has died. He was 102.

He was working as a chemist in Basel, when he synthesised lysergic
acid diethylamide. On April 19, 1943, he took the substance before
cycling home.

That day has become known among aficionados as "Bicycle Day" as it was
while he was riding home that he experienced the most intense symptoms
brought on by the drug.

Rick Doblin, who studied Hofmann's work as part of his own research
and knew Hofmann well, confirmed he died of a heart attack at 9am on
Tuesday at his home in Basel.

As well as LSD, Hofmann later became the first person to synthesise
psilocybin, the active constituent of "magic mushrooms".

He also discovered the hallucinogenic principles of Ololiuqui (Morning
Glory), lysergic acid amide and lysergic acid hydroxyethylamide.

In retirement, Hofmann served as a member of the Nobel Prize
Committee. He was a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences, and a
Member of the International Society of Plant Research and of the
American Society of Pharmacognosy.

In 1988 the Albert Hofmann Foundation was established "to assemble and
maintain an international library and archive devoted to the study of
human consciousness and related fields."

He disapproved of the appropriation of LSD by the youth movements of
the 1960s, but regretted that its potential uses had not been explored.

Albert Hofmann was married and had three children.