Biochemistry History - A Timeline

1665 Micrographia book- Robert Hooke had successfully invented the microscope. Because of this discovery,
Robert Hooke was the first to examine what a cell appears to be close to. His description of these cells was
published in Micrographia. However, the cell walls observed by Hooke did not indicate the nucleus and other
organelles found in most living cells.

1674 Anton van Leeuwenhoek witnessed a live cell (plant) under a microscope.

1775 Antoine Lavoisier first proposed a mechanism for photosynthesis, a process wherein plants take in carbon
dioxide and release oxygen. Lavoisier was also the first to investigate cell respiration in animals.

1777-83 Chemistry became dominated by the phlogiston theory or the hypothetical principle of fire wherein all
the combustible material was partly composed. In this principle, burning (oxidation) was caused by liberating
phlogiston, with ash as the dephlogisticated substance.

This period marked the onset of physiological chemistry, a sub-field of chemistry that dealt more with extracellular
chemistry, such as the chemistry of digestion and body fluids.

1836 The proponent of the cell theory in Biology, Theodore Schwann, proposed that the process of fermentation
is solely limited to living yeast cells in 1836.

1856 Louis Pasteur showed that fermentation depends highly on the physiological functions of bacteria and living
yeast cells. This work of Pasteur in 1856 received general recognition.

1860s The view on the chemistry of life highly different from the chemistry of nonliving things. During this period,
the view is that the gelatinous and homogenous form of matter in organisms, more commonly known as the
protoplasm, carries out all the intracellular processes. These include respiration, biosynthesis of molecules, and the
breakdown of matter.

1869 Friedrich Miescher first identified what he called “nuclein” inside the nuclei of human white blood cells.

1900s One of the most important events that happened during this period is the experiment done by Eduard
Buchner. He prepared a cell-free extract of yeast which he called the zymase. It fermented glucose and produced
carbon dioxide and ethanol. In this way, Buchner then introduced the concept of an “enzyme”. This discovery by
Buchner debunked the previous theory of protoplasm.

1904 The term “Biochemistry” was officially coined by the German chemist Carl Neuber.

1919 Phoebus Levene, a Russian physician, and chemist, first discovered the order of the three major
components of a single nucleotide (phosphate, pentose sugar, and nitrogenous base). He was also the first to
discover the carbohydrate component of RNA (ribose) and the carbohydrate component of DNA (deoxyribose).
Years later, Levene finally identified how DNA and RNA molecules are put together.

1937 Hans Krebs discovered the process of the Citric Acid Cycle (also known as Krebs cycle, in honor to him),
which a series of chemical reactions that occur during cellular respiration. Glucose and oxygen convert to water,
carbon dioxide, and energy. The advancement in molecular biology, a field of biology that focuses on the
physiological organization of living organisms at the molecular level, is indeed a great help in the progress of
biochemistry.
1944 While working on bacterial samples, Oswald Avery first suggested in 1944 that the genetic material of the
cell was possibly the deoxyribonucleic acid.

1950 A scientist named Erwin Chargaff concluded that almost all DNA, regardless of organism or tissue type, still
maintains certain properties, even as its composition varies. He postulated the “Chargaff’s Rule,” which says that
the amount of cytosine is equal to the amount of guanine, and the amount of thymine is equal to the amount of
adenine. In short, the total amount of pyrimidines (thymine and cytosine) approximates the number of purines
(adenine and guanine). Utilizing all discoveries before James Watson and Francis Crick were able to derive the
three-dimensional and double-helical model of the DNA in 1953[6]. After that, the process of replicating the DNA
was suggested.

1958 The theory was only confirmed after Frederick Sanger discovered the first and complete protein structure in
1958. The protein that was first identified is insulin.

1961 After the discovery of the genetic material, the next achieved milestone was the cracking of the genetic
code. It was discovered in 1961 that the genetic code comprises specific triplets of DNA bases that encode for
particular amino acids.

1977 Sixteen years after the discovery of the triplets of the DNA, Fred Sanger had successfully sequenced the
genome of a bacteriophage which contained more than 5000 nucleotides. Not long after, he was able to sequence
the DNA of the human mitochondrial genome, which consisted of more than 16 000 nucleotides [4]In the present
time, Biochemistry has promised to the world of science in the development of new path-breaking research and
coming times would surely prove these promises to be fulfilled.The development of new technology such as X-ray
diffraction, chromatography, radioisotopic labeling, electron microscopy, and molecular dynamics paved the way
for many other discoveries in Biochemistry. Such technologies will also further open other new endeavors in the
future.