Who really discovered insulin, and why did its Nobel Prize start a feud?
Four people in one Toronto lab made insulin usable as a treatment in 1921 and 1922, and the credit was argued over for decades.
▶ Start the storyInsulin was discovered in a University of Toronto laboratory in 1921 and 1922, and the question of who deserves the credit started a feud that lasted for decades.
The scientific idea had been in the air: research by several scientists had suggested that diabetes resulted from a lack of a protein hormone from the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, which Schafer had named "insulin". But extracting it was the hard part. Attempts to extract insulin from ground-up pancreas failed, likely because the pancreas's own protein-digesting enzymes destroyed it. A surgeon, Frederick Banting, reasoned that tying off the pancreatic duct would destroy the cells that make those enzymes but leave the insulin, so insulin could then be extracted from the islets. John Macleod, professor of physiology at the University of Toronto, was sceptical at first but agreed in 1921 to let Banting use his laboratory. There Banting was assisted by Charles Best, a 22-year-old medical student.
In December 1921 Macleod brought in the biochemist James Collip to help refine the extract. On 11 January 1922 the first ever injection of insulin was given, to 14-year-old Leonard Thompson at Toronto General Hospital; that early extract caused a severe allergic reaction, and Collip went on to prepare insulin in a purer, usable form. Banting, Best and Collip shared the patent and sold it to the University of Toronto for one dollar.
Nov 1921
Banting's idea: insulin from fetal pancreas
Dec 1921
Collip joins to purify the extract
11 Jan 1922
First injection of insulin, Toronto General Hospital
1923
Nobel Prize to Banting and Macleod, leaving out Best and Collip
Then came the Nobel Prize in 1923, awarded to Banting and Macleod. Banting was furious that Best had been left out, and gave half his money to Best; Macleod gave half of his to Collip. The argument over who really discovered insulin did not end there.
Quiz me
0/3
Recap
Insulin came from a team of four, but the 1923 Nobel Prize named two, and the dispute over credit ran for decades.
💡 A trick to remember it · Four in the lab, two on the medal: a one-dollar patent, and and the Nobel Foundation admitting 49 years later that leaving out Best was a mistake.
Surprising fact · The patent was sold for one dollar, and in 1972 the Nobel Foundation conceded that leaving out Best was a mistake.
Sources (3)
No source, no claim. Every fact in this lesson (16 claims) cites at least one of these.