Capsaicin is a active compound in chili which gives you the numbing feeling in your mouth when you consume it. Capsaicin was discovered and extracted by Christian Friedrich Bucholz in 1816, just two short years before his death. It received its current name in 1876, though Bucholz originally called it capsicin. The name itself comes from the genus of nightshade flowering plants from which it was originally extracted (Capsicum).