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Early protein research (1700s–1800s) used terms like “albumins” and focused on isolating and characterizing plant and animal protein types.
Proteins have been studied and recognized since the 1700s, when chemists such as Antoine Fourcroy and others referred to them collectively as “albumins” or “albuminous materials.” Early work included separating plant proteins like gluten (reported around 1747) and distinguishing animal protein varieties such as albumin, fibrin, and gelatin (recognized in 1789). In the 1800s, Gerardus Johannes Mulder carried out elemental analyses of proteins and found they shared similar empirical composition, while Jöns Jacob Berzelius proposed the term “protein,” derived from Greek roots meaning “primary” or “standing in front.” Progress in understanding proteins accelerated in the early 1900s and mid-1900s: proteins were increasingly understood as polypeptide chains of amino acids (Hofmeister and Fischer, 1902), and the idea that proteins act as enzymes was demonstrated when James B. Sumner showed urease is a protein (1926). Major milestones followed, including Frederick Sanger’s sequencing of insulin (1949), which established proteins as linear amino-acid polymers, and Christian Anfinsen’s work on oxidative folding of ribonuclease A, supporting the thermodynamic basis of protein folding. Structural biology then advanced with X-ray crystallography, leading to the first solved protein structures (hemoglobin and myoglobin in 1958), and later methods such as cryo-electron microscopy and computational prediction expanded the ability to determine or infer protein structures.
Early protein research (1700s–1800s) used terms like “albumins” and focused on isolating and characterizing plant and animal protein types.
The term “protein” was introduced in the 1800s by Berzelius, derived from Greek meaning “primary/standing in front.”
Key conceptual breakthroughs included recognizing proteins as polypeptides (1902), proving proteins can be enzymes (1926), sequencing insulin to show linear amino-acid polymers (1949), and establishing folding principles (Anfinsen).
Protein structure determination progressed from early sequencing and folding studies to X-ray crystallography (first structures in 1958), later supported by cryo-EM and computational prediction.
An early collective name used in the 1700s for proteins or protein-like materials.
The word “protein” was proposed by Berzelius and comes from Greek roots meaning “primary” or “standing in front.”
A linear chain of amino acid residues that forms the basic building block of proteins.
An enzyme shown by Sumner (1926) to be a protein, helping establish proteins as catalysts.
The first protein whose amino-acid chain sequence was determined by Frederick Sanger in 1949.
The idea that a protein’s folded structure corresponds to a free-energy minimum, supported by Anfinsen’s studies.
A method that enabled atomic-level determination of protein structures, including the first solved structures of hemoglobin and myoglobin in 1958.
A technique for studying large protein complexes by imaging frozen samples with electron beams rather than X-rays.
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