Hünefeld Produces the First Protein Crystals--those of Hemoglobin

Crystals of plant and animal products do not typically occur naturally. In 1840 F. L. Hünefeld published his accidental observation of the first protein crystals— those of hemoglobin—in a sample of dried menstrual blood pressed between glass plates.

Hünefeld, Der Chemismus in der thierischen Organisation, Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1840, 158-63.

Lesk, Protein Structure, 36. Tanford & Reynolds, Nature’s Robots, 22. Judson, Eighth Day of Creation, 489.