Pepsin's an enzyme that's released by the chief cells in the stomach and that degrades food proteins into peptides. Pepsin was discovered in 1836 by Theodor Schwann who also coined this enzyme's name from the Greek word pepsis, meaning digestion (peptein: to digest). It was the first animal enzyme to be discovered, and, in 1929, it became one of the first enzymes to be crystallized, by John H. Northrop. Pepsin's a digestive protease. Precursor Pepsin's expressed as a pro-form zymogen, pepsinoge… (More on Pepsin)