Charles Best

For more information on Charles Herbert Best, visit Britannica.com.

American–Canadian physiologist (1899–1978)

Best, who was born in West Pembroke, Maine, graduated in physiology and biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1921. In the summer of that year he gave up a lucrative holiday playing professional football and baseball to begin work with Frederick Banting. Together they isolated the hormone insulin, and showed its use in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Banting was furious when Best was not awarded a share in the 1923 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for the discovery of insulin.

Best remained at the University of Toronto and gained his MB in 1925. He was made head of the physiology department in 1929 and became director of the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research when Banting was killed in 1941. He continued the work on insulin throughout these years and in an important paper published in 1936 he suggested the administration of zinc along with insulin to reduce its rate of absorption and make it more effective over a longer time. He also studied cardiovascular disease and established the clinical use of heparin as an anticoagulant for blood in the treatment of thrombosis. He discovered the vitamin choline, which prevents liver damage, and the important enzyme histaminase, which takes part in local inflammation reactions, breaking down histamine.

The Canadian medical scientist Charles Herbert Best (1899-1978) codiscovered insulin in 1921. He also discovered the enzyme histaminase, and his studies on choline established its importance as a dietary factor.

Charles H. Best was born on February 27, 1899, at West Pembroke, Maine. His parents, Dr. Herbert Huestes Best and Luella Fisher Best, were Canadian. Charles entered the University of Toronto in 1916, but interrupted his studies to join the Canadian army. After World War I he resumed his studies at the University of Toronto and graduated in May 1921.

Discovery of Insulin

The day after his examinations Best began work with Frederick Banting in the department of physiology. Best had been asked to assist in the chemical procedures involved in the research. He and Banting started their work on the extraction of pancreatic tissue and the treatment of depancreatized dogs. This project led to the discovery of insulin later that summer.

Best was appointed director of the Insulin Division of the Connaught Laboratories in January 1922. In 1924 he married Margaret Hooper Mahon, and in the following year, after he had received his medical degree from the University of Toronto, the couple went to England. There Best worked with Sir Henry Dale and obtained his doctorate from the University of London in 1928.

During his postgraduate work and throughout his medical training, Best continued to be actively involved in insulin production and studies on diabetes. He had numerous appointments at the University of Toronto; after Banting's death in 1941, Best became head of the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research.

Following the work on insulin Best continued his investigations in several different areas. In London he became interested in histamine. On his return to Toronto he and E.W. McHenry demonstrated the action of histaminase, an enzyme responsible for the breakdown of histamine. In 1928 Best organized a team to explore the sources of heparin and to test its effectiveness in the prevention of thrombosis.

Researchers had noted that after removal of the pancreas, and despite the use of insulin, the livers of dogs became swollen with fat. Best, with his colleagues J. M. Hershey, M. Elinor Huntsman, and others, investigated the cause of these fatty livers and found choline to be one factor preventing the development of fatty livers (a lipotropic factor). This was an important discovery since, when fatty livers do develop as a result of a deficiency of choline or related factors, fibrotic changes and, finally, cirrhosis may follow.

Best received honorary doctorates from 18 universities, and was the recipient of numerous medals, awards, and honors. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Best retired from the University of Toronto in 1965 and spent much of his time traveling around the world with his wife. He died on March 31, 1978, in Toronto.

Further Reading

Information on Best and his work is in Arturo Castiglioni, A History of Medicine (trans. 1941; 2d rev. ed. 1947), G.A. Wrenshall, G. Heteny, and W.R. Feasby, Story of Insulin: Forty Years of Success against Diabetes (1962), and in Michael Bliss, Discovery of Insulin (1982).

Not to be confused with Charles Best, founder of Donorschoose.org.

Charles Herbert Best
Best circa 1924
Born	February 27, 1899(1899-02-27) West Pembroke, Washington County, Maine
Died	March 31, 1978 (aged 79) Toronto, Ontario
Known for	Co-discoverer of insulin
Notable awards	Order of Canada Order of the British Empire Order of the Companions of Honour

Dr. Charles Herbert Best, CC, MD, FRS, FRSC, FRCP (February 27, 1899 – March 31, 1978) was a medical scientist. He was one of the co-discoverers of insulin.

Born in West Pembroke, Washington County, Maine, the son of Luella Fisher Best and Herbert Huestis Best, his parents were Canadians from Nova Scotia. Best moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1915 where he started studying towards a Bachelor of Arts degree at University College, University of Toronto. In 1918, he enlisted in the Canadian Army serving with the 2nd Canadian Tank Battalion. After the war, he completed his degree in the Physiology and Biochemistry course.^[1]

As a 22-year-old medical student at the University of Toronto he worked as an assistant to Dr. Frederick Banting and played a major role in the discovery of the pancreatic hormone insulin—one of the most significant advances in medicine, enabling an effective treatment for diabetes.

In 1923, the Nobel Prize committee honoured Banting and J.J.R. Macleod with the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of insulin, ignoring Best. This incensed Banting, who voluntarily shared half of his award money with Best.

Best succeeded Macleod as professor of physiology at University of Toronto in 1929. During World War II he was influential in establishing a Canadian programme for securing and using dried human blood serum. In his later years, Best was an adviser to the medical research committee of the United Nations World Health Organization.

Best married Margaret Hooper Mahon in Toronto in 1924. They had two sons.

Charles Best is interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.

Contents 1 Awards and Honours 2 Honorary Degrees 3 See also 4 Further reading 5 References 6 External links

Awards and Honours

In 1967 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in recognition "for his contribution to medicine, particularly as co-discoverer of insulin".^[2] He was a Commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire^[1] and was made a member of Order of the Companions of Honour in 1971 "for services to Medical Research"^[3]. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada, and was the first Canadian to be elected into the Pontifical Academy of Sciences^[1] .

In 1994 he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Dr. Charles Best Secondary School in Coquitlam, British Columbia, C.H. Best West Elementary School in Burlington, Ontario, and C.H. Best East Middle School in Toronto, Ontario, are named in his honour.

Honorary Degrees

Dr. Charles Best received 18 [1] Honorary Degrees from Universities around the World Including

• University of Chicago
• Université Sorbonne de Paris
• Cambridge University
• Oxford University
• University of Amsterdam
• University of Louvain
• University of Liège
• University of Chile
• University of Uruguay
• University of San Marcos
• University of Melbourne
• University of Edinburgh
• Northwestern University
• Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki
• Free University of Berlin
• Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• University of Zagreb
• University of Toronto

See also

• Insulin
• Frederick Banting
• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Nicolae Paulescu

Further reading

• Henry B. M. Best (2003). Margaret and Charley: The Personal Story of Dr. Charles Best, the Co-Discoverer of Insulin. Dundurn Press Ltd.. ISBN 1550023993. 
• John Waller (2002) Fabulous Science: fact and fiction in the history of scientific discovery, Oxford. See Chapter 11: "Painting yourself into a corner; Charles Best and the discovery of insulin", page 223.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Charles Herbert Best". University of Toronto. http://www.utoronto.ca/bandb/best.htm. 
2. ^ "Order of Canada citation". http://www.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1833. 
3. ^ "Supplement tp the London Gazette". London Gazette. June 12, 1971. http://www.gazette-online.co.uk/issues/45384/supplements/5978. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Charles Best

• CBC Digital Archives. Chasing a Cure for Diabetes. Accessed 16 June 2008.
• Dr. Charles Best Secondary School. Accessed 16 June 2008.
• Ontario Plaques, The Discovery of Insulin. Accessed 16 June 2008.
• Order of Canada Citation. Accessed 16 June 2008.
• University of Toronto. Banting and Best Department of Medical Research Charles Herbert Best. Accessed 16 June 2008.

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