 Proteins were first described by the Dutch chemist <unk> Johannes Mulder and named by the Swedish chemist <unk> Jacob Berzelius in 1838 . Mulder carried out elemental analysis of common proteins and found that nearly all proteins had the same <unk> formula , <unk> . He came to the erroneous conclusion that they might be composed of a single type of ( very large ) molecule . The term " protein " to describe these molecules was proposed by Mulder 's associate Berzelius ; protein is derived from the Greek word <unk> ( <unk> ) , meaning " primary " , " in the lead " , or " standing in front " , + <unk> . Mulder went on to identify the products of protein degradation such as the amino acid <unk> for which he found a ( nearly correct ) molecular weight of 131 Da . 
