Albert Hofmann. Vida y legado de un químico humanista

It is said that Isaac Newton spent a good part of his life dedicated to the study and practice of alchemy. We do not know if he obtained any results from these occupations or not, but what is certain is that now in the 20th century we find two brilliant alchemists who, by manipulating matter, have found a good number of philosopher's stones (sometimes without intending to and sometimes imagining it). They are Albert Hofmann (creator of LSD-25), and Alexander Shulgin (conjurer of phenethylamines and visionary trpitamines).

And it is about Albert Hofmann, his work and the cultural revolution unleashed by psychedelics in this era that this book is about. We can be sure that this is the most complete study to date on this subject, since it not only deals with the biography of the developer of LSD-25, but also with the vicissitudes of his mischievous creature, tracing a panoramic vision of the cultural environment in which the L.S.D. developed its path. Relevant characters such as Aldous Huxley and Tim Leary, or the world of the hippies and the countercultural movement of the 60s, will parade with detail and amenity through its pages, as well as the studies of this consciousness catalyst in the field of psychotherapy, its use as a tool in relation to spirituality and mysticism, or the incursions of the CIA and its psychotic intentions to use LSD as a 'weapon of war'... In this way, the book could also be conceived as a cultural history of the 20th century (seen from the perspective of entheogeny :-).

And in order to bring to fruition a study of all these areas, the author makes an extensive and in-depth review of all the available sources related to Hofmann, LSD and the unruly 60's: he examines books, articles, interviews and personal testimonies in relation to the honoree and L.S.D., recasting them in this meritorious study.

Thus, his relationship with Ernst Jünger, to whom an entire chapter is devoted - highlighting on this occasion the philosophical and historical implications of Albert's discovery, taking advantage of the fact that the author of the book is himself a philosopher by training - is also extensively considered, as well as his relationship with R.G. Wasson, the 'father' of ethnomycology and rediscoverer of the religious use of entheogens (both in Mesoamerica and in the ancient Eurasian world).

In this sense, the author of the book also devotes special attention to the research carried out by Hofmann in relation to other psychoactive substances of the family of entheogens, as is the case of the identification of psilocybin and psilocin from visionary mushrooms, the study of the amides of lysergic acid in relation to ololiuqui, or the Eleusinian kykeon from Classical Greece (work that Hofmann carried out in collaboration with R.G. Wasson).

And so as not to leave anything out, J.C. Ruíz adds to this solid volume several texts by Hofmann, interviews with him and writings by people who knew him -as is the case of his son Andreas-. All this leads us to what we had in our hands: an extensive, complete, honest, ambitious, serious, entertaining, informative and instructive book in relation to Albert Hofmann, the L.S.D., the psychedelic revolution and the rediscovery of entheogens in the 20th century.

Aldous Huxley ventured that three outstanding discoveries had been made during the 20th century: genetics (which he saw as a chiaroscuro), nuclear energy (which Huxley conceived as threatening), and psychedelics (which he saw as having positive potential). And it is for this reason that this book is particularly interesting, as it provides us with much information, with breadth and clarity, about this outstanding 'third discovery'.

Editor's comment:

Albert Hofmann, Life and Legacy of a Humanistic Chemist is the best biography to date on the discoverer of LSD. But J. C. Ruiz Franco's book is not simply a detailed and documented biography of Albert Hofmann, it places the character in context and gives us an account of all the derivations of his extraordinary discovery. In addition to providing exhaustive information on the person of Albert Hofmann, it documents the sociology of LSD, his escape from the laboratories after the thousands of clinical trials that he caused in the world of psychiatry and his entry into the universe of the counterculture. The work contains very interesting essays, unpublished in Spanish, by Albert Hofmann, and documents in depth the visits that the chemist made to our country. This makes it a multifaceted work on LSD and other psychoactive substances. It is an essential book for all fans of these subjects.

From the prologue by Jonathan Ott:

Here we have a hybrid book: what, if the title is anything to go by, is a biography of A1bert Hofmann, the famous Swiss visionary chemist, is simultaneously a cultural history of his most notable invention, LSD, the legendary psychoactive substance (or Delysid, if we use its pharmaceutical name).

There is a remarkable cultural history of LSD and other related psychedelic drugs. Like its autobiographical precursor, it examines the invention of LSD in the context of Hofmann's chemical-pharmaceutical research work for Basi1ea's pharmaceutical company, Sandoz Ltd (now part of the multinational Novartis). We see how Hofmann was also the progenitor of three drugs of enormous therapeutic and commercial success: Hydergine, Dihydergot and Metergine, while contributing to the development of two others: Parlodel and Sansert / Deseril. Although Hofmann considered Delysid the most successful of all, the management (not to mention the shareholders) of Sandoz viewed the matter very differently.

The book deals to such an extent with Hofmann's philosophy that it offers in full (translated by its author) two philosophical lectures by Hofmann: the first, on his view of reality based on his "sender-receiver" theory; the second, on "the redemption of time through eternity". The appendices section includes several little-known writings on entheognosia, among them Walter Pahnke's classic on his exploration of the spiritual potential of LSD; as well as literary texts: by the famous English writer Aldous Huxley and the American beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg. We can also read in this section an interview with Hofmann, conducted by Antonio Escohotado in the mid-eighties...

Introduction to the book

Albert Hofmann, one of the most important scientists of the 20th century, the most famous chemist of that century, world famous for having discovered LSD -but also creator of other drugs with very useful therapeutic applications-, died on April 29, 2008 after a lifetime dedicated to research, humanities and the defense of the good use of psychoactive substances. He was a member of the Nobel Prize Committee, the World Academy of Sciences, the International Society for Plant Research and the American Society of Pharmacognosy, as well as Honorary Doctor of the Zurich Institute of Technology, the Free University of Berlin and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. A brilliant chemist, a good philosopher and a better person, this Swiss citizen discovered the most potent drug of all known drugs, an event that marked his life and brought him many joys, but also some problems.

The book that the reader has in his hands is the way in which the author of these pages wishes to pay him the best of tributes and to make known to the public everything related to his figure: to recount his life, explain his discoveries, describe his research and leave a memory of his contributions, both in the scientific and humanistic fields. In this way, we hope to contribute to putting an end to what Antonio Escohotado - author of Historia de las drogas and Hofmann's 'spiritual son' - calls 'pharmacological barbarism' when referring to the strange situation that illegal drugs have had in our society since the abnormal experiment of prohibition was inaugurated at the beginning of the 20th century. We also wish to contribute our small grain of sand to undo the common misunderstandings in this matter due to the manipulation of information, which has led the common citizenry to believe that LSD, psilocybin and other psychedelics are harmful drugs of no use whatsoever. In this sense, we consider this work to be, in general terms, quite objective. It is evident that we state the facts with a certain sympathy for the subject matter, but we are sure that we have not fallen into any extreme position, an all too common attitude.

There are men who make history, and Albert Hofmann was one of them. Without him, the last century would not have been as it has been shown to us. Can we imagine it without psychopharmacology, without the happy - and sometimes crazy - sixties, without hippies, without psychedelic music, without countercultural movements, without alternative artistic currents and without drugs such as LSD or psilocybin? Our good doctor directly or indirectly influenced all these historical milestones which, in turn, are still being felt today.

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