Scientist who in 1938, while attempting to develop a possible headache remedy, synthetically produced lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. Five years after its creation Hofmann accidentally discovered the hallucinogenic properties/capabilities of the drug. The following passage is from the good chemist's log of his own initial experience with LSD:
"Last Friday, April 6th, 1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away."
Editor's note: Albert Hofmann passed away at his home in Basel, Switzerland, on April 29, 2008, at the age of 102.
Hofmann passage quoted from Drugs Across the Spectrum