Harvard Psilocybin Project
E706195
The Harvard Psilocybin Project was a controversial early-1960s research initiative led by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard University that investigated the psychological and spiritual effects of psilocybin and other psychedelics.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Harvard Psilocybin Project canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8027680 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Harvard Psilocybin Project Context triple: [Flashbacks, describes, Harvard Psilocybin Project]
-
A.
The Psychedelic Experience
The Psychedelic Experience is a 1964 guidebook to using psychedelic drugs for spiritual and psychological exploration, inspired by and structured around the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
-
B.
Center for Open Science
The Center for Open Science is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research through tools, infrastructure, and advocacy.
-
C.
Psychedelic Shack
Psychedelic Shack is a 1970 studio album by The Temptations that showcases their shift into psychedelic soul with experimental production and socially conscious themes.
-
D.
Minerva Research Initiative
The Minerva Research Initiative is a U.S. Department of Defense program that funds social science research to deepen understanding of global political, social, and cultural dynamics relevant to national security.
-
E.
Drug Policy Program
The Drug Policy Program is a research and policy initiative at Rice University's Baker Institute that analyzes and advocates for evidence-based approaches to drug laws and regulation.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Harvard Psilocybin Project Target entity description: The Harvard Psilocybin Project was a controversial early-1960s research initiative led by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard University that investigated the psychological and spiritual effects of psilocybin and other psychedelics.
-
A.
The Psychedelic Experience
The Psychedelic Experience is a 1964 guidebook to using psychedelic drugs for spiritual and psychological exploration, inspired by and structured around the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
-
B.
Center for Open Science
The Center for Open Science is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research through tools, infrastructure, and advocacy.
-
C.
Psychedelic Shack
Psychedelic Shack is a 1970 studio album by The Temptations that showcases their shift into psychedelic soul with experimental production and socially conscious themes.
-
D.
Minerva Research Initiative
The Minerva Research Initiative is a U.S. Department of Defense program that funds social science research to deepen understanding of global political, social, and cultural dynamics relevant to national security.
-
E.
Drug Policy Program
The Drug Policy Program is a research and policy initiative at Rice University's Baker Institute that analyzes and advocates for evidence-based approaches to drug laws and regulation.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
psychedelic research program
ⓘ
psychological research project ⓘ |
| academicInstitution | Harvard University NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| aim |
to explore therapeutic potential of psychedelics
ⓘ
to investigate spiritual and mystical experiences induced by psychedelics ⓘ to study psychological effects of psilocybin ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Harvard Center for Research in Personality
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Harvard Department of Social Relations NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| controversialFor |
alleged distribution of psychedelics outside formal research protocols
ⓘ
involving students as research subjects in psychedelic sessions ⓘ questions about informed consent and research ethics ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| endTime | 1962 ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork |
psychedelic research
ⓘ
psychology ⓘ psychopharmacology ⓘ transpersonal psychology ⓘ |
| followedBy |
dismissal of Richard Alpert from Harvard University
ⓘ
dismissal of Timothy Leary from Harvard University ⓘ |
| hasEffectOn |
U.S. attitudes toward drug policy
ⓘ
public perception of psychedelics ⓘ |
| influenced |
1960s counterculture
ⓘ
New Age spirituality movements ⓘ later psychedelic therapy research ⓘ |
| ledBy |
Richard Alpert
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Timothy Leary NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| legacy |
cited as an early example of modern psychedelic science
ⓘ
used as a case study in research ethics discussions ⓘ |
| location | Cambridge, Massachusetts ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
consciousness
ⓘ
mystical experiences ⓘ personality change ⓘ psilocybin ⓘ psychedelic drugs ⓘ |
| method |
guided psychedelic sessions
ⓘ
psychological testing before and after drug sessions ⓘ qualitative reports of subjective experience ⓘ |
| notableExperiment |
Concord Prison Experiment
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Marsh Chapel Experiment NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| notablePublication | The Psychedelic Experience (inspired by project work) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| participant |
graduate students
ⓘ
prison inmates ⓘ religious professionals ⓘ undergraduate students ⓘ |
| regulatoryContext | preceded U.S. federal scheduling of psychedelics ⓘ |
| startTime | 1960 ⓘ |
| timePeriod | early 1960s ⓘ |
| usedSubstance |
LSD
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
psilocybin ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Harvard Psilocybin Project Description of subject: The Harvard Psilocybin Project was a controversial early-1960s research initiative led by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard University that investigated the psychological and spiritual effects of psilocybin and other psychedelics.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.