The isolation of insulin, the hormone whose deficiency causes diabetes, was achieved in 1921 and 1922 by a team at the University of Toronto, transforming what had been a nearly always fatal diagnosis into a manageable chronic condition within a single year.
Facts
Disputed
DiscovererFrederick Banting and Charles Best, University of Toronto, with James Collip and J.J.R. Macleod; credit is genuinely contested. 3 Credited principally to Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best, who first isolated a pancreatic extract that lowered blood sugar in diabetic dogs in the summer of 1921; biochemist James Collip then purified the extract to make it safe for human use, and physiology professor J.J.R. Macleod supplied the laboratory the work was carried out in and oversaw it. The 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Banting and Macleod alone, a decision Banting protested publicly by sharing his prize money with Best, prompting Macleod to share his in turn with Collip; who most deserves credit for the isolation remains a genuine, sourced dispute rather than a settled attribution. Discovery Year Dispute Status Classification
Type/Classification FAQs
Why did Frederick Banting share his insulin Nobel Prize money with Charles Best?
The 1923 Nobel Prize went to Banting and Macleod, but Banting objected that Macleod, the supervising professor, was named instead of Charles Best, his actual research partner, and shared his own prize money with Best in protest.
Frederick Banting publicly objected to the Nobel committee's choice of James Macleod, the laboratory's supervising professor, as his co laureate instead of Charles Best, his actual research partner in the 1921 experiments, and shared his own prize money with Best in protest. Macleod similarly shared his award with James Collip, the biochemist whose purification work made a safe clinical insulin extract possible, in recognition that the Nobel Prize's two recipient limit did not reflect the true four person collaboration.
Connections
Associated With
Source A History of MedicineLois N. Magner
Source Our History (Endocrine Society)
Karolinska awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the isolation of insulin.
Source Wikipedia: Karolinska Institute
Discovered By
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.entity description, Isolation of InsulinQuote, entity description, Isolation of Insulin
The isolation of insulin, the hormone whose deficiency causes diabetes, was achieved in 1921 and 1922 by a team at the University of Toronto, transforming what had been a nearly always fatal diagnosis into a manageable chronic condition within a single year.
2. Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip, and John Macleod (Science History Institute)
Nobel Prize passage
Banting and Macleod received the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of insulin.
Nobel Prize passage, Banting's reaction
Banting, outraged that Macleod was chosen to share the prize with him, immediately announced that he would split his winnings with Best.
View the Source3. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity
Roy Porter, W. W. Norton and Company, 1997- Discoverer: Frederick Banting and Charles Best, University of Toronto, with James Collip and J.J.R. Macleod; credit is genuinely contested.
Insulin (Wikipedia)
Insulin article, history sectionQuote, Insulin article, history section
Insulin was the first peptide hormone discovered.
A History of Medicine
Lois N. Magner, CRC PressAssociated With: Diabetes Mellitus
Our History (Endocrine Society)
Wikipedia: Karolinska Institute
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Discoverer
Frederick Banting publicly objected to the Nobel committee's choice of James Macleod, the laboratory's supervising professor, as his co laureate instead of Charles Best, his actual research partner in the 1921 experiments, and shared his own prize money with Best in protest. Macleod similarly shared his award with James Collip, the biochemist whose purification work made a safe clinical insulin extract possible, in recognition that the Nobel Prize's two recipient limit did not reflect the true four person collaboration.
A dissenting reading, from Frederick BantingEncyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Essays About This Entity (1 essay)
Two Discoveries, Not One Gland, Define Endocrinology
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