History of biochemistry
The history of biochemistry can be said to have started with the ancient Greeks who were interested in the composition and processes of life, although biochemistry as a specific scientific discipline has its beginning around the early 19th century. Some argued that the beginning of biochemistry may have been the discovery of the first enzyme, diastase (today called amylase), in 1833 by Anselme Payen, while others considered Eduard Buchner's first demonstration of a complex biochemical process alcoholic fermentation in cell-free extracts to be the birth of biochemistry. Some might also point to the influential work of Justus von Liebig from 1842, "Animal chemistry, or, Organic chemistry in its applications to physiology and pathology", which presented a chemical theory of metabolism, or even earlier to the 18th century studies on fermentation and respiration by Antoine Lavoisier.
Zheng Ji (biochemist)
In 1945, at the Central Medical School, he established a biochemistry research institute to train graduate students. This was the first formal organization in China to teach biochemistry to graduate students, training a large number of students who went on to work in a variety of fields. After turning 70 he began to study the biochemistry of old age, proposing a theory of metabolic imbalance, forming the basis of geriatric biochemistry in China.