Watch The Bicycle Trip: An Animation of The World’s First LSD Trip in 1943

On August 16, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann was synthetizing a new compound called lysergic acid diethylamide-25 when he got a couple of drops on his finger.  The chemical, later known worldwide as LSD, absorbed into his system and soon after he experienced an intense state of altered consciousness. In other words, he tripped.

Intrigued by the experience, Hofmann dosed himself with 250 micrograms of LSD and then biked his way home through the streets of Basel, making him the first person ever to intentionally drop acid. The event was later commemorated by psychonauts and LSD enthusiasts as “Bicycle Day.”

Italian animators Lorenzo Veracini, Nandini Nambiar and Marco Avoletta imagine what Hofmann might have seen during his historic journey in their 2008 short A Bicycle Trip.





 Watch The Bicycle Trip: An Animation of The World’s First LSD Trip in 1943 | Open Culture