In 1938, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was synthesizing the active compounds in ergot, a toxic fungus that commonly grows on grains, in an attempt to create a circulatory and respiratory stimulant.

The 1960s actually began in April 1943—it was then that Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann (1906–2008), having first synthesised lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) 5 years earlier, unintentionally ingested a ...