Albert Hofmann Takes the First LSD Trip
Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann took an unexpected journey of the mind in April 1943 when he accidentally absorbed one of his chemical discoveries, lysergic acid diethylamide, through his fingertips. Within an hour, Hoffman saw "an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors," as he later wrote. Hofmann was excited about the potential of the powerful psychotropic substance; he envisioned it as a psychiatric drug that could be "medicine for the soul." But the 1960s counterculture had its own, considerably less scientific plans for the drug, leading Hofmann to refer to LSD later in life as "my problem child." But Hofmann's mental adventure still stands as the world's first million-mile trip taken while staying put.