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Humphry Osmond

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Doctor

The Resume

    (July 1, 1917-February 6, 2004)
    Born in Surrey, United Kingdom
    Psychiatrist coined the word 'psychedelic' - meaning mind manifesting (from the Greek words 'psyche' [mind] and 'delos' [manifest])
    Known for pioneering psychedelic drugs in medical research, especially in the fields of schizophrenia and alcoholism
    Also studied psychology of social environments and how it influenced welfare/recovery within mental institutions
    Friend of author and psychedelic drug user Aldous Huxley
    Died in 2004 of cardiac arrhythmia in Appleton, Wisconsin at age 86

Why he might be annoying:

    His middle name was Fortescue.
    His research began after he handled a sample of Albert Hofmann's drug discovery LSD, some of which absorbed through his skin and caused him to trip out.
    The C.I.A. and the U.K.'s MI6 approached him in the 1950s to develop L.S.D. as a possible 'truth serum' to use on captured enemies, but both agencies later abandoned the idea.
    Getting away from actual research, he gave Huxley drugs just to help his friend write better books.
    When Huxley came up with a poem while tripping and shared it, he countered with the following, 'To fathom Hell or soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic.'
    Besides L.S.D., he readily admitted to taking mescaline and the Native American ritual drug peyote on several occasions - in the name of 'research.'
    When counterculture guru Timothy Leary and the '60s hippie movement began to embrace L.S.D., the scientific community ceased funding its therapeutic potential, ending his years of research.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was going to be a banker but changed his major to medicine.
    He studied to become a psychiatrist while serving as a surgeon-lieutenant in the British Navy during World War II.
    When the British medical community frowned upon his methods he found it necessary to emigrate to Saskatchewan, Canada, to continue his research properly.
    His research brought him to theorize that schizophrenia could be the body's way of self-intoxication, with psychedelic drugs possibly causing a reversal of the trend.
    In the late 1950s, he gave L.S.D. to 2,000 alcoholics and found a year later that 45% of them did not go back to drinking, a percentage not duplicated before or since.
    His alcohol research met with the approval of Bill Wilson, co-founder of A.A.
    He indirectly helped name The Doors as the band took its name from Huxley's 1954 book 'The Doors of Perception' while tripped out on mescaline provided by him.
    Late in his career, he became director of the Bureau of Research in Neurology and Psychiatry at the New Jersey Psychiatric Institute and a professor of psychology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
    He continued his research on schizophrenia and alcoholism without use of hallucinogens, but after his death his daughter stated, 'I'm sure he was very saddened by it. It could have helped millions of people.'

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 92.31% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 16 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 22 Votes: 36.36% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 32 Votes: 40.62% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 25 Votes: 56.00% Annoying