Alexander Shulgin

Shulgin was born in Berkeley, California, to Theodore Stevens Shulgin (1893–1978) and Henrietta D. (Aten) Shulgin (1894–1960).

His father was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia; his mother was born in Illinois.

Theodore and Henrietta were public school teachers in Alameda County.

Shulgin began studying organic chemistry as a Harvard University scholarship student at the age of 16.

Alexander Theodore "Sasha" Shulgin (June 17, 1925 – June 2, 2014) was an American medicinal chemist, biochemist, organic chemist, pharmacologist, psychopharmacologist, and author.

In 1943 he dropped out of school to join the U.S. Navy.

While serving on USS Pope during World War II, a nurse gave Shulgin a glass of orange juice prior to surgery for a thumb infection.

Shulgin drank the juice and, assuming that the powder at the bottom of the glass was a sedative, fell asleep rapidly.

Upon waking he learned that the powder was undissolved sugar.

The experience made him aware of the influence of placebos over the human mind.

Through the late 1950s Shulgin completed post-doctoral work in the fields of psychiatry and pharmacology at University of California, San Francisco.

After working at Bio-Rad Laboratories as a research director for a brief period, he began work at Dow Chemical Company as a senior research chemist.

One of his early achievements at Dow was the invention of the first known biodegradable pesticide (mexacarbate).

At this time he had a series of psychedelic experiences that helped to shape his further goals and research, the first of which was brought on by mescaline.

"I first explored mescaline in the late '50s ... Three-hundred-fifty to 400 milligrams. I learned there was a great deal inside me."

Shulgin later reported personal revelations that "had been brought about by a fraction of a gram of a white solid, but that in no way whatsoever could it be argued that these memories had been contained within the white solid ... I understood that our entire universe is contained in the mind and the spirit. We may choose not to find access to it, we may even deny its existence, but it is indeed there inside us, and there are chemicals that can catalyze its availability."

Shulgin's professional activities continued to lean in the direction of psychopharmacology, furthered by his personal experiences with psychedelics.

But during this period he was unable to do much independent research.

After serving in the Navy, Shulgin returned to Berkeley, California, and in 1954 earned his PhD in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

His opportunity for further research came in 1961 after his development of Zectran, the first biodegradable pesticide, a highly profitable product.

In his book PiHKAL, Shulgin limits his pesticide days at Dow Chemical to one sentence in 978 pages.

Dow Chemical Company, in return for Zectran's valuable patent, gave Shulgin great freedom.

During this time, he created and patented drugs when Dow asked, and published findings on other drugs in journals such as Nature and the Journal of Organic Chemistry.

Eventually, Dow Chemical requested that he no longer use their name on his publications.

In late 1966, Shulgin left Dow in order to pursue his own interests.

He first spent two years studying neurology at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, leaving to work on a consulting project.

He set up a home-based lab on his property, known as "the Farm", and became a private consultant.

He also taught classes in the local universities and at the San Francisco General Hospital.

Through his friend Bob Sager, head of the U.S. DEA's Western Laboratories, Shulgin formed a relationship with the DEA and began holding pharmacology seminars for the agents, supplying the DEA with samples of various compounds, and occasionally serving as an expert witness in court.

He is credited with introducing MDMA, commonly known as "ecstasy", to psychologists in the late 1970s for psychopharmaceutical use and for the discovery, synthesis and personal bioassay of over 230 psychoactive compounds for their psychedelic and entactogenic potential.

In 1988, he authored a then-definitive law enforcement reference book on controlled substances, and received several awards from the DEA.

Shulgin was married to Nina Gordon until her death.

He then married author Ann Gotlieb.

He spent most of his later life at the Farm in Lafayette, California.

In 1991 and 1997, he and his wife Ann Shulgin compiled the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL (standing for Phenethylamines and Tryptamines I Have Known And Loved), from notebooks that extensively described their work and personal experiences with these two classes of psychoactive drugs.

Shulgin performed seminal work into the descriptive synthesis of many of these compounds.

Some of Shulgin's noteworthy discoveries include compounds of the 2C family (such as 2C-B) and compounds of the DOx family (such as DOM).

Due in part to Shulgin's extensive work in the field of psychedelic research and the rational drug design of psychedelic drugs, he has since been dubbed the "godfather of psychedelics".

On April 8, 2008, at the age of 82, he underwent surgery to replace a defective aortic valve.

On November 16, 2010, he suffered a stroke, from which he largely recovered.