Research Query: LSD Testing in the 1950s

A researcher hopes to contact volunteer participants in “truth sera” experiments.

In the first half of the 1950s, Henry Beecher of Harvard Medical School oversaw a series of experiments, sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Council, that were designed to test “truth sera” using various drugs, including LSD. The drugs were tested on volunteers, some of them Harvard students. Now Beecher professor of anesthesia James Rathmell is preparing an historical article on Beecher and his research. If you—or anyone you know—volunteered for Beecher’s experiments, Rathmell would like to hear from you: rathmell.james@mgh.harvard.edu. Confidentiality will be assured for those who wish it.

Related topics

You might also like

Yesterday’s News

How a book on fighting the “Devill World” survived Harvard’s historic fire.

At Harvard’s Beck-Warren House, Ghosts Speak Many Languages

The quirky 1833 home now hosts Celtic scholars.

Yesterday’s News

A co-ed experiment that changed dorm life forever

Most popular

Inside Harvard’s Most Egalitarian School

The Extension School is open to everyone. Expect to work—hard.

How a Harvard Hockey Legend Became a Needlepoint Artist

Joe Bertagna’s retirement project recreates figures from Boston sports history.

A New Landscape Emerges in Allston

The innovative greenery at Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex

Explore More From Current Issue

A close-up of a beetle on the textured surface of a cycad cone and cycad cones seen in infrared silhouette.

Research in Brief

Cutting-edge discoveries, distilled

Purple violet flower with vibrant petals surrounded by green foliage.

Bees and Flowers Are Falling Out of Sync

Scientists are revisiting an old way of thinking about extinction.

Firefighters battling flames at a red building, surrounded by smoke and onlookers.

Yesterday’s News

How a book on fighting the “Devill World” survived Harvard’s historic fire.