Biochemistry: a new science

As the nineteenth century drew to a close there began to emerge a new science – the study of the chemistry of living organisms, otherwise known as biological chemistry, that was to evolve into biochemistry.

The early university departments bearing that name, and hence being chaired by a Professor, were established in Liverpool and at the University of London (now know as University College London). The first of these, in Liverpool, was established in 1902 and headed by Benjamin Moore, part of whose legacy was the foundation of The Biochemical Journal. Moore's son, Thomas, became the first Deputy Director of the MRC Dunn Nutritional Laboratory. Sir Jack Cecil Drummond, a pioneer of research on vitamins, became the first Professor of Biochemistry at the University of London in 1922.