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# Milestones of biochemistry

A short timeline of the discoveries that turned the chemistry of life into a medical science.

Updated Nov 12, 2026

## Key facts

- 1828: Wöhler made urea from inorganic material, showing that the molecules of living things obey ordinary chemistry.
- 1897: Buchner showed that a cell-free yeast extract can ferment sugar: enzymes work outside the cell (Nobel Prize 1907).
- 1908: Garrod described «inborn errors of metabolism», starting with alkaptonuria: one gene, one enzyme, one disease.
- 1926: Sumner crystallised urease and showed that an enzyme is a protein (Nobel Prize 1946).
- 1937: Krebs described the citric acid cycle (Nobel Prize 1953).
- 1953: Watson and Crick proposed the double helix of DNA, using Franklin's and Wilkins's X-ray data (Nobel Prize 1962).

## In detail

- 1955: Sanger completed the amino-acid sequence of insulin, the first protein sequence (Nobel Prize 1958); he later developed DNA sequencing.
- 1921–1922: Banting, Best, Collip and Macleod isolated insulin and treated the first patients with diabetes.
- 1960s–1970s: the genetic code was read, and Mitchell's chemiosmotic theory explained how mitochondria make ATP.
- 1983: Mullis devised the polymerase chain reaction (Nobel Prize 1993).
- 2003: the Human Genome Project completed the reference sequence of the human genome.

**Also called**
History of biochemistry

## Clinical notes

- Garrod's idea that a missing enzyme causes disease is the basis of newborn screening and of every inborn error page on this site.
- Insulin was the first hormone used as a drug and the first human protein made by recombinant DNA.

## Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

## What did Buchner's experiment with yeast extract show?

That fermentation does not need living cells: enzymes in a cell-free extract can carry it out.

## What was Garrod's contribution to medicine?

He described inborn errors of metabolism, showing that an inherited enzyme defect causes a disease, starting with alkaptonuria.

## Which protein was the first to be sequenced, and by whom?

Insulin, by Frederick Sanger, in 1955.

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## Connections

## Related conditions 1

- [Alkaptonuria](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/alkaptonuria/)

## Related 5

- [Krebs cycle (citric acid cycle)](https://durgical.com/en/biochemistry/pathways/krebs-cycle/)
- [DNA structure and chromatin](https://durgical.com/en/biochemistry/topics/dna-structure-and-chromatin/)
- [Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)](https://durgical.com/en/biochemistry/topics/polymerase-chain-reaction/)
- [ATP synthase (complex V)](https://durgical.com/en/biochemistry/enzymes/atp-synthase/)
- [Insulin signalling](https://durgical.com/en/biochemistry/topics/insulin-signalling/)

Educational information, not medical advice. For any symptom, see a health professional.

Sources: [The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1907](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1907/summary/) (NobelPrize.org (Nobel Prize Outreach), 2026); [The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1946](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1946/summary/) (NobelPrize.org (Nobel Prize Outreach), 2026); [The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1958](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1958/summary/) (NobelPrize.org (Nobel Prize Outreach), 2026); [The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1953/summary/) (NobelPrize.org (Nobel Prize Outreach), 2026); [The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1962/summary/) (NobelPrize.org (Nobel Prize Outreach), 2026); [The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1993](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1993/summary/) (NobelPrize.org (Nobel Prize Outreach), 2026).

[← All of biochemistry](https://durgical.com/en/biochemistry/)

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