Sir Fredrick Grant Banting

Abstract

On August 27, 1923, the cover of the Time magazine featured Dr. Fredrick Grant Banting, the man responsible for the discovery of insulin. He and J. J. R. MacLeod were later that year awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The story of the discovery of insulin is filled with controversy, drama, academic bickering, and the excitement and reward that come with making an impact in the lives of millions of patients suffering from the then fatal disease, diabetes. For most, the discovery of insulin is credited to this bright young surgeon and the medical student assigned to assist him in the laboratory in the summer of 1921, Charles Best. Yet the discovery and purification of an insulin extract involved a team effort, one shared with J. J. R. McLeod, C. H. Best, and J. B. Collip. Banting never expected and was somewhat ill-prepared for the instant fame the discovery of this life-changing drug brought him. A grateful nation bestowed upon him the position of Canada’s first professor of Medical Research. By the 1930s, he was awarded numerous awards and honorary degrees from universities and medical societies, including Knight Commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire in 1934. Banting was never able to repeat a similar scientific achievement. He spent the next decade doing research on silicosis and searching for a cure for cancer. During this time, he befriended A. Y. Jackson and many of the newly formed Group of Seven Painters, becoming an amateur artist in his own right. He frequently traveled with Jackson to the Canadian Arctic and rural Quebec on painting excursions. He wrote poetry and documented his life in journals, allowing many biographers the opportunity to gain insight into the man behind the fame. During World War II, Banting devoted his time to wartime scientific and aviation research, collaborating with the British. Sir Fredrick Banting’s life was cut short when he was killed in a plane crash off the east coast of Newfoundland while flying on a secret mission to Great Britain in 1941.