Happy Bicycle Day, the anniversary of Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann's trailblazing trip on LSD

Psychedelic enthusiasts around the world celebrated Bicycle Day on Tuesday, the anniversary of Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann's discovery of the psychedelic effects of LSD. The "holiday" gets its name from Hoffman's trippy bicycle trip home after intentionally dosing himself with acid on April 19, 1943.
Hoffman synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide while developing pharmaceuticals for Sandoz Laboratories. On April 16, he began to suspect he had stumbled on something after he absorbed a small amount of the substance through his fingertips.
"At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination ... I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away," Hoffmann wrote in his 1980 book LSD — My Problem Child.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Three days later, Hoffmann decided to take a quarter of a milligram of the drug and document the effects, but he quickly found himself unable to write and asked his laboratory assistant to escort him home.
"We went by bicycle, no automobile being available because of wartime restrictions on their use. On the way home, my condition began to assume threatening forms. Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had traveled very rapidly," Hoffmann later wrote. His neighbor brought him milk later that night, but to his altered perception, she "was no longer Mrs. R., but rather a malevolent, insidious witch with a colored mask."
The 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances, which has been ratified by 184 countries, lists LSD as a Schedule I drug with no therapeutic value. Until his death in 2008 at the age of 102, Hoffmann continued to believe the drug could be useful for psychotherapy.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
Celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen
The Week Recommends From exhibitions to Regency balls, these are the best ways to commemorate the author
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
The pressure of South Korea's celebrity culture
In The Spotlight South Korean actress Kim Sae-ron was laid to rest on Wednesday after an apparent suicide
By Abby Wilson Published
-
Should lying in politics be a criminal offence?
Today's Big Question Welsh government considers new crime of deliberate deception by an elected official
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addiction
Speed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pill
Speed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study finds
Speed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes risk
Speed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published