The three units of the Carlsberg Research Center differ in their history:

The Carlsberg Laboratory was set up in 1875 by the founder of Carlsberg, J.C. Jacobsen. In 1876, it was established as part of the Carlsberg Foundation, consisting of a Department of Chemistry and a Department of Physiology. Some of the early and widely known achievements of the laboratory were:

Establishment of a general method for quantification of
nitrogen in organic compounds (Johan Kjeldahl, Head of
Department of Chemistry 1876-1900)
Method for pure culturing of yeast, not only free from bacteria,
but also free from wild yeast (Emil Chr. Hansen, Head of
Department of Physiology 1879-1909)
Establishment of the concept of pH and its far-reaching
fundamental and practical importance (S.P.L. Sørensen, Head
of the Department of Chemistry 1901-1938)
Discovery of the homothallic life cycle of budding yeast and the
Mendelian segregation of its genes (Øjvind Winge, Head of
Department of Physiology 1933-1956)
Pioneering of protein chemistry, in particular proteolytic
enzymes and the dynamic nature of proteins (Kaj U.
Linderstrøm-Lang, Head of Department of Chemistry 1938-
1959)

In 1972, after the fusion of Carlsberg and Tuborg, research was reorganised by increasing the staff of the Carlsberg Laboratory and by adding a continuation of research activities that had been carried out at the Carlsberg and Tuborg breweries, forming an additional unit, the Carlsberg Research Laboratory. Ownership of the Carlsberg Laboratory was at the same time transferred from the Carlsberg Foundation to the brewery. To house the increased staff, a new large wing was added to the laboratory building in 1976, and the Carlsberg Research Center was a reality.