The advent of displacement chromatography can be attributed to Arne Tiselius, who in 1943 first classified the modes of chromatography as frontal, elution, and displacement. Displacement chromatography found a variety of applications including isolation of transuranic elements and biochemical entities.
The technique was redeveloped by Csaba Horváth, who employed modern high-pressure columns and equipment. It has since found many applications, particularly in the realm of biological macromolecule purification.