Molten globules

When were they discovered? As early as the 1960s, there was evidence that under certain conditions protein molecules might have properties intermediate between the rigid native and fully unfolded states. The concept of such a protein as an intermediate in protein folding was suggested by the late Oleg Ptitsyn in the 1970s. A compact, partly folded protein was first observed experimentally in the early 1980s and the term molten globule was coined in 1983.