Originally, it was generally believed that life was not subject to the laws of science the way non-life was. It was thought that only living beings could produce the molecules of life. Then, in 1828, Friedrich Wöhler published a paper on the synthesis of urea, proving that organic compounds can be created artificially.

The dawn of biochemistry may have been the discovery of the first enzyme, diastase (today called amylase), in 1833 by Anselme Payen.
Eduard Buchner contributed the first demonstration of a complex biochemical process outside of a cell in 1896: alcoholic fermentation in cell extracts of yeast.
Although the term "biochemistry" seems to have been first used in 1882, it is generally accepted that the formal coinage of biochemistry occurred in 1903 by Carl Neuberg, a German chemist.
Previously, this area would have been referred to as physiological chemistry.
Since then, biochemistry has advanced, especially since the mid-20th century, with the development of new techniques such as chromatography, X-ray diffraction, dual polarisation interferometry, NMR spectroscopy, radioisotopic labeling, electron microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations.

Today, there are three main types of biochemistry. Plant biochemistry involves the study of the biochemistry of autotrophic organisms such as photosynthesis and other plant specific biochemical processes. General biochemistry encompasses both plant and animal biochemistry. Human/medical/medicinal biochemistry focuses on the biochemistry of humans and medical illnesses.