R.I.P. Dr. Hofmann

[CarlV]

Thanks for the thrills in my younger days. :)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/world/europe/30hofmann.html?_r=2&ref=world&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann


Carl

[onepixel]

Ditto.

Wow... he was 102.

RIP Dr. Hofmann

[EchoWars]

Somewhere, I have a book in which he describes his first 'trip' in detail. Pretty facinating, especially since he had no preconceived notions about its effects (which in later years tended to influence the experiance to a positive or negative degree). Great reading...

102? So, LSD usage = longevity? ;)

Thanks, Dr. Hofmann.

[SPL db]

LSD - Maybe that could explain the "happy" look on his face... :scratch2: :)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/30/world/hoffman190.jpg

Scott

[RichPA]

Wow, 102. Hope he's having a good trip.

[jimfet]

Bless his heart. I bet he had some tales.

[jwrags]

Still waiting on the flashbacks we were told would come. R.I.P.

Best
John

[Strangeband]

RIP, Dr. Hoffman and let us know what's out there if you get a chance.

[tentoze]

Had no idea he was still around.

[mhardy6647]

I heard this on the radio news this AM; they were playing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds under the obit. I, too, had no idea he was still alive. He was 102, apparently.

Hoffman and Ira Remsen (first professor of chemistry at my alma mater, Johns Hopkins) both made their seminal discoveries the same way. The story has it that Hoffman was researching ergot derivatives, and licked his finger to turn a page after making the diethylamide of lysergic acid. The rest was history of a very interesting kind.

Remsen discovered saccharine's intense sweetness essentially the same way.

[tentoze]

The story has it that Hoffman was researching ergot derivatives, and licked his finger to turn a page after making the diethylamide of lysergic acid. The rest was history of a very interesting kind.

Remsen discovered saccharine's intense sweetness essentially the same way.

But never had as much fun as Uncle Albert.

[bangsezmax]

102? So, LSD usage = longevity? ;)

You may actually be on to something in that LSD, if used carefully and not abused, can lead to a greater sense of perspective in life. Certainly seems like it provided that role for Dr. Hoffman. And if one has a better sense of perspective, they should/would have more inner peace and less stress. And stress is really a life-shortener.

Just some thoughts. It's been decades since I experimented in that way, but it certainly opened my eyes to some different ways of looking at life.

[KeninDC]

He's riding that white bicycle into eternity.

[Jack Lord]

Bike ride to the moon...

RIP Herr Doktor Hoffman. A very erudite man and always a great interview.

[hypertone]

Wow I thought he died years ago! 102!! That's amazing.

[bordeno]

But never had as much fun as Uncle Albert.

Truer words are seldom spoken.

I may live longer than I thought.

Cheers Uncle A...

[BajaGringo]

Peace on your now perpetual trip. Say hi to some friends and loved ones that are dear to me along the way...

:music:

[Sandy G]

My sister took a ride courtesy of Dr Hoffman, via a girl who came to visit her once. She & my sister went to the same school in Richmond, this gal just showed up unannounced one day during the summer break. She & my sister went out, hooked up w/some of my sister's other buds, then all hell broke loose. They came back, one of Mary Lou's-my sister's- hometown buds-was ready to KILL this Richmond gal. Mary Lou was kinda in a daze. They all calmed down, we went to bed, & the next morning, we took the gal to the airport. She told the cops I was carrying a gun, I nearly got arrested. It came out this Richmond gal was a big-time pusher, & had given Mary Lou, unbeknownst to her, a big hit of acid. That's why she was trippin', & why the hometown pal was ready to kill her. The sheriff in those days lived 2 doors up from us, we went & talked to him, he told us that he had been watching this gal soon as she hit town. If my dad had found out what she'd done to Mary Lou, he'd have killed her, I guess. Mary Lou said the acid trip was NOT very enjoyable, something she NEVER wanted to do again. I don't thik she had any "aftershocks", we just all tried to forget the whole episode. I don't know whatever happened to the Richmond gal-I don't think she went back to Mary Lou's school that next fall, either...

[Urizen]

RIP, Doc.

If it weren't for you, I'd never have climbed the Sassafras Mountain tower, the highest point in South Carolina (3560 feet above sea level)...at night.:smoke:

Sadly this is all that's left of said tower:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k199/Urizen_2006/sassafras.jpg

[SpeakerLabFan]

R.I.P. I guessing that the trees and shrubs around Basel and Sandoz have an aura this week...

[MRX37]

102 years old...

Well, one can't say that his life was cut short. 102 is very long lived.

[mhardy6647]

Perhaps ironically, I listened to the Bluedy Moos' Legend of a Mind just last night on the hi-fi.

Timothy Leary's dead
No, no, no, no he's outside
looking in

[caddisgeek]

Whoa, two Doc Hoffman threads, I'm seein double

[stuwee]

:sadwave::sadwave:

[elgato8905]

Still waiting on the flashbacks we were told would come. R.I.P.

Best
John


Yeah... I'm still waiting for a freebie too.:D

R.I.P. Mr. Hoffman

[6thumbs]

Thanks for the experience Doc,R.I.P

[mhardy6647]

In memoriam, last night I listened to this little acid-influenced playlist on the LR hifi.

Beatles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Beatles Fixing a hole ("I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in/ and stops my mind from wandering/where it will go...")
Grateful Dead St. Stephen ("Lady finger, dipped in moonlight/writing "what for?" across the morning sky")
Grateful Dead Doin' that Rag ("Sitting in Mangrove Valley chasing light beams")
Grateful Dead Cosmic Charlie ("I just wonder if you should feel/less concerned about the deep unreal")
Steely Dan Kid Charlemagne ("All those Day-glo freaks who used to paint the face/they joined the human race/this life can be very strange")

:-)

[Mystic]

Godspeed into the cosmos, Herr Hofmann. :tears: Thank you for the experience. :yes:

[SpeakerLabFan]

In memoriam, last night I listened to this little acid-influenced playlist on the LR hifi.

Beatles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Beatles Fixing a hole ("I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in/ and stops my mind from wandering/where it will go...")
Grateful Dead St. Stephen ("Lady finger, dipped in moonlight/writing "what for?" across the morning sky")
Grateful Dead Doin' that Rag ("Sitting in Mangrove Valley chasing light beams")
Grateful Dead Cosmic Charlie ("I just wonder if you should feel/less concerned about the deep unreal")
Steely Dan Kid Charlemagne ("All those Day-glo freaks who used to paint the face/they joined the human race/this life can be very strange")

:-)

Good ones, why stop with just three GD songs you could include their whole catalog :D ....another one I like is Smashing Pumpkins - Girl Named Sandoz

[mhardy6647]

It was getting late...

[jimfet]

There is a thread on AK, about tweeks that make your system sound better. The LSD tweek will make an AM radio sound like a live concert. It got me wanting a fine system. It made Pink Floyd a household name.

[Cpt.Beaky]

I think it's kind of sadly ironic that most of the comments about this are about the kind of abuse of his discovery that upset him so much because of the way it sapped the legitimacy of L.S.D. and kept it from being used medically (for better or worse).

RIP, Dr. Hofman.