Seminal Figures in the History of LSD

Key Points LSD was discovered and synthesized by the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938. Hofmann only became aware of LSD’s hallucinogenic properties by chance five years later. The public backlash during the 1960s to recreational drug use led to LSD being made illegal in 1968. Lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD, is a lab-created psychedelic drug that causes users to experience visual and/or auditory hallucinations. It was discovered and synthesized by the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938, but it would be a further five years before LSD’s hallucinogenic properties came to light. Read on to learn more about Hofmann’s serendipitous discovery of