One man contributed to the hippie movement of the 1960s, the Manson Family mass murders and the trance party scene in Goa and the rest of the world. He has also influenced rock bands like Led Zeppelin, The Doors and The Beatles. His name is Albert Hofmann and he discovered the psychedelic drug, LSD, lysergic acid diethylamide. He died this week, at his home in Burg, Switzerland at the grand age of 102.

Blogosphere is active with tributes to Hofmann as he is the hero of many people who thank him for ‘opening their minds’. He is also frowned upon by most of society as a tool of the devil. The chemical compound did have mysterious effects that people just didn’t understand. Doctors experimented with LSD to treat psychological disorders. Conspiracy theories say the CIA used it as a truth serum.

But the hippies of the 1960s believed that it made people love one and all. Hofmann himself believed that his ‘child’ helped him reconnect with nature. Different folks with different strokes.

However, there was worldwide revolt against the drug as the 1970s came swinging in and Hofmann penned his thoughts in his book LSD: My Problem Child.

The story of how he stumbled upon the zapping effects of LSD is now legend. Hofmann first synthesised LSD-25 while he was working in Sandoz laboratories in 1938, and then left it alone. Five years later, he accidentally ingested it when he decided to take a look at it again. He then went on a walk through the forests and found himself overwhelmed with the beauty of nature. Three days later, he took a dose of 250 microgrammes to test it. He then went home on a bicycle. April 19th is known today as Bicycle Day.

It’s the genius’s way of saying, go for a ride. Open up your mind.

Jacob Cherian