Peptides have a longer history than most people realize — stretching from the discovery of insulin a century ago to today’s advanced synthetic compounds. Here’s a quick, plain-English timeline of how peptide science developed.
- 1920s: insulin — the first peptide to change medicine.
- 1950s: the first peptide sequence is worked out.
- 1960s: chemical synthesis makes peptides easy to build.
- Today: engineered peptides across many research fields.
A short timeline
| Era | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1921 | Insulin is isolated — the first widely used peptide. |
| 1950s | Frederick Sanger determines insulin’s amino-acid sequence. |
| 1963 | Bruce Merrifield introduces solid-phase peptide synthesis. |
| 1980s–2000s | Automated synthesis and analogues expand the field. |
| Today | Engineered peptides studied across many research areas. |
Why the history matters
Two breakthroughs shaped everything that followed: sequencing (figuring out the order of amino acids) and synthesis (building peptides chemically). Solid-phase peptide synthesis, in particular, made it practical to produce the defined, reproducible peptides researchers rely on — see how peptides are made.
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