This blog post on the many hormones the pancreas produces is part of the insulin centennial series celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin.
If you enjoyed this series about the history of insulin and you would like to learn more about its discovery, check out the following resources!
1. The Discovery of Insulin by Michael Bliss (1982)
Michael Bliss uses a large body of primary sources to reconstruct a comprehensive picture of the discovery of insulin story. The book is “written to be read by anyone from a scientist to a high school student, and especially by those in between.” A special centenary edition was released this October!
2. Louis Rosenfeld, Insulin: Discovery and Controversy
Clinical Chemistry, Volume 48, Issue 12, 1 December 2002, Pages 2270–2288, https://doi.org/10.1093/clinchem/48.12.2270
If you don’t have time to read the whole book, this is a good journal article summarizing the discovery of insulin and some of the controversy around who was credited.
As the birthplace of insulin, the University of Toronto has tons of artifacts documenting the discovery. The university has curated an amazing website that compiles documents from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library’s Banting and Best collections, the Archives and Records Management Services, Aventis Pasteur (formerly Connaught) Archives, and Dr. Best’s personal collection.
Located in London, ON, the Banting House is where Banting woke up at 2 am and jotted down the idea that led to the discovery of insulin. Now turned into a National Historic Site of Canada, the museum celebrates the discovery of insulin and life of Sir Frederick Banting. There are also great and informative blog posts on the museum’s website.
Medical Historian Christopher Rutty wrote a series of articles about the history of Connaught Laboratories, where insulin was first produced at the University of Toronto.
“To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre, Diabetes Action Canada, and the University of Toronto Department of Medicine brought together a diverse group of speakers to share their diabetes stories.” Make sure to check out Session 9 entitled Living and Thriving with Type 1 Diabetes, where CIM’s Jen presents with University of Toronto student Oria!
A team of medical historians helped create a Heritage Minute segment that pays tribute to the discovery of insulin. This short and engaging video can help you really imagine what the discovery looked like at the time!
