History of biochemistry
The term “biochemistry” itself is derived from the combining form "bio-", meaning "life", and "chemistry". The word is first recorded in English in 1848, while in 1877, Felix Hoppe-Seyler used the term ("Biochemie" in German) in the foreword to the first issue of "Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie" (Journal of Physiological Chemistry) as a synonym for physiological chemistry and argued for the setting up of institutes dedicate to its studies. Nevertheless, several sources cite German chemist Carl Neuberg as having coined the term for the new discipline in 1903, and some credit it to Franz Hofmeister.
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.