chemistry

Stephen Szára

Stephen Szára is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stephen Szára rather than just read about it. In short: Stephen István Szára (March 21, 1923 – August 1, 2021) was a Hungarian–American chemist and psychiatrist who made major contributions in the field of pharmacology. Life in Hungary Szára was born in Pestújhely, Hungary in March 1923.

Key takeaways

Stephen Szára belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stephen Szára to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stephen Szára from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stephen István Szára (March 21, 1923 – August 1, 2021) was a Hungarian–American chemist and psychiatrist who made major contributions in the field of pharmacology.

Life in Hungary Szára was born in Pestújhely, Hungary in March 1923. He earned his DSc and MD from Budapest University of Medicine. Szára organized a Laboratory of Biochemistry at Lipótmezõ in Budapest in 1953 and was also previously an assistant professor at the Department of Biochemistry of the Medical School there. Szára discovered the hallucinogenic effects of the psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT) via self-experimentation in 1956 following its published isolation from cohoba (yopo) snuff the previous year. Szára described experiencing intense euphoria at the higher DMT doses due to his excitement about the discovery. Subsequent to his own experiences, Szára conducted and published a clinical study of DMT's effects that same year. Szára had turned his attention to DMT after his order for LSD from the Swiss company Sandoz Laboratories was rejected on the grounds that the powerful psychotropic could be dangerous in the hands of a communist country.

Move to the United States Shortly after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, Szára left Hungary and moved to the United States where he eventually became Chief of the Biomedical Branch of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. In the U.S., he worked with Julius Axelrod and others on the metabolism of DMT and related compounds in healthy and schizophrenic volunteers. Among other achievements, Szára and his colleagues characterized the biochemistry of the first three psychedelic congeners of tryptamine: dimethyl-, diethyl-, and dipropyl-tryptamine (DMT, DET, and DPT), describing their pharmacokinetics and effects. Szára's research explored both the possibility that some tryptamines (DMT, in particular) might contribute to psychosis by forming in the brain as well as the possibility that some psychedelics might be useful in psychotherapy. Later, Szára had argued that psychedelic drugs should be studied in a heuristic manner and that learning the mechanisms by which they affect the brain may "serve as keys to unlock the mysteries of the brain/mind relationship". Szára was an emeritus Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Heffter Research Institute. He was elected Honorary Member of the Hungarian Association of Psychopharmacology in 2007. He was also the recipient of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration Administrator's Meritorious Achievement Award and the Kovats Medal of Freedom from the American Hungarian Federation (2005).

Death He died in Kensington, Maryland, in August 2021 at the age of 98.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stephen Szára

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stephen Szára claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stephen Szára before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stephen Szára ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stephen Szára

In research: Stephen Szára appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stephen Szára in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stephen Szára is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 2021 deaths, Dimethyltryptamine, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stephen Szára outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stephen Szára in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stephen Szára means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stephen Szára out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stephen Szára in simple terms?

Stephen István Szára (March 21, 1923 – August 1, 2021) was a Hungarian–American chemist and psychiatrist who made major contributions in the field of pharmacology. Life in Hungary Szára was born in Pestújhely, Hungary in March 1923.

Why does Stephen Szára matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stephen Szára?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stephen Szára.