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.
Bioelectrochemistry
The beginnings of bioelectrochemistry, as well as those of electrochemistry, are closely related to physiology through the works of Luigi Galvani and then Alessandro Volta.
The first modern work in this field is considered that of the German physiologist Julius Bernstein (1902) concerning the source of biopotentials due to different ion concentration through the cell's membrane.
The domain of bioelectrochemistry has grown considerably over the past century, maintaining the close connections to various medical and biological and engineering disciplines like electrophysiology, biomedical engineering, and enzyme kinetics. The achievements in this field have been awarded several Nobel prizes for Physiology or Medicine. Among prominent electrochemists who have contributed to this field one could mention John Bockris.