Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Frederick Banting

 
Who2 Biography: Frederick Banting, Physician
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Who2 Biographies

  • Born: 14 November 1891
  • Birthplace: Alliston, Ontario, Canada
  • Died: 21 February 1941 (airplane crash)
  • Best Known As: The Canadian doctor who discovered insulin

Dr. Frederick Grant Banting was a Canadian physician who discovered a way to isolate and extract insulin, the hormone used to treat diabetes. Born in a farmhouse near Alliston, Ontario, Banting got his degree in medicine from Victoria College in Toronto. He served as a medical officer in France during World War I and returned home with a war wound and a Military Cross. He began his medical career in 1919 as a pediatrician in London, Ontario, and supplemented his income by lecturing at the University of Western Ontario. While researching for a lecture on the pancreas in 1920, he became interested in diabetes. Dr J. MacLeod, a physiologist from the University of Toronto, provided Banting with lab space and an assistant, Charles Best, and Banting and Best got to work experimenting on dogs. By the end of 1922 Banting and Best, with the help of biochemist J.B. Collip, had developed a way to produce commercial qualities of an anti-diabetic hormone they dubbed insulin. The next year the Nobel prize was awarded to MacLeod and Banting, the first Canadians to receive the award. The Canadian government established a research facility for Banting and granted him an annuity. During the 1930s he worked on cancer research, and when World War II began he again devoted himself to government service. He died on a medical mission to England in 1941 when his plane crashed in Newfoundland.

Banting, feeling his assistant had been neglected, split his portion of the Nobel money with Best... Banting was knighted in 1934... The farmhouse Banting was born in was outside Alliston, which is now called New Tecumseh... Banting and Best initially called their isolated hormone isletin, from the part of the pancreas known as the Islets of Langerhans. MacLeod insisted they use the term insulin, after the Latin for "island."

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Sir Frederick Grant Banting
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

(born Nov. 14, 1891, Alliston, Ont., Can. — died Feb. 21, 1941, Nfd.) Canadian physician. He taught at the University of Toronto from 1923. With Charles Best, he was the first to obtain a pancreatic extract of insulin (1921), which, in the laboratory of J.J.R. Macleod, they isolated in a form effective against diabetes. Banting and Macleod received a 1923 Nobel Prize for the discovery of insulin; Banting voluntarily shared his portion of the prize with Best.

For more information on Sir Frederick Grant Banting, visit Britannica.com.

Scientist: Frederick Grant Banting
Top
Home > Library > Science > Scientists

[b. Alliston, Ontario, Canada, November 14, 1891, d. Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland, February 21, 1941]

The hormone insulin, which controls blood sugar levels, was first extracted from the pancreas by Banting and Charles H. Best in 1921, using a technique conceived by Banting. In 1922 a 14-year-old boy suffering from type I diabetes mellitus (a disease resulting from insufficient insulin) showed rapid improvement after becoming the first person to be treated with insulin.


Biography: Frederick Grant Banting
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Biographies

The Canadian medical scientist Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) was codiscoverer of insulin and a leader in other fields of medical research, including suprarenal cortex, cancer, silicosis, and aviation medicine.

Frederick Banting was born in Alliston, Ontario, on Nov. 14, 1891, to William Thompson Banting, a well-established farmer, and Margaret Grant Banting. He enrolled at the University of Toronto in 1911 in an arts course leading to theology. However, he decided that he wanted to be a doctor, and in 1912 he registered as a medical student.

With World War I under way, Banting left college in 1915 to join the medical corps as a private. Doctors were urgently needed, however, and he was sent back to finish his studies, graduating in 1916. He was commissioned in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps and proceeded to England, where he received exceptional surgical experience in several army hospitals.

On returning to Toronto in 1919, Banting was appointed to a residency in surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children, but in 1920 he set up practice for himself. He moved to London, Ontario, and opened an office. One evening, he read an article dealing with the relation of the islands of Langerhans to diabetes. Banting had been interested in diabetes since his school days when a classmate had died in coma. This event impressed him deeply, and now his mind eagerly seized upon possibilities which might be worthy of investigation.

Initiation of the Insulin Work

In 1920 Banting went to Toronto for an interview with the professor of physiology Dr. J.J.R. Macleod, a world authority in the field of carbohydrate metabolism. Banting described his ideas and his desire to search for the internal secretion of the pancreas; he begged for an opportunity to try out his theories in the physiology laboratory, but Macleod refused for he knew that Banting had no training in research. Banting returned to Toronto several times to try to persuade Macleod. Finally, impressed by his enthusiasm and determination, Macleod promised Banting the use of the laboratory for 8 weeks during the summer. Macleod knew that if Banting was to have any success whatever, someone who knew the latest chemical techniques must work with him. Charles Best, completing the final year in the physiology and biochemistry course, had been working on a problem related to diabetes in Macleod's department. Banting and Best met and talked things over. Although no stipends were available, both were determined and decided that work would begin on May 17, 1921, the day following Best's final examination.

Discovery of Insulin

The first attempts to produce a diabetic condition upon which to study the effect of a pancreatic extract were not successful. Every effort was made to show that a neutral or preferably an acid aqueous or alcoholic extract of degenerated or intact dog pancreas and of fetal or adult beef pancreas always produced a potent antidiabetic material. The observations were repeated time and again until there was convincing evidence that the extract did produce the dramatic effect which was being sought in depancreatized animals.

As the material was extracted from the microscopic islands of Langerhans (cells of the pancreas, different from the majority, which are grouped together as islets of tissue named after Paul Langerhans, the German physician who first observed them), it was called "isletin"; later the named was changed to "insulin," meaning island. Again and again the same successful results were obtained, and when Macleod returned to Toronto, he was finally convinced that the elusive hormone had indeed been captured. On Nov. 14, 1921, Banting and Best presented their findings before the Physiological Journal Club of the University of Toronto, and later that month a paper entitled "The Internal Secretion of the Pancreas" was submitted for publication in the Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine.

News of the discovery brought scientists from many parts of the world, as well as diabetics and their families, to Toronto. To accelerate production of the precious extract, Macleod suggested turning over further purification and development to Dr. J.B. Collip, a trained biochemist. Banting was then free to devote himself to clinical aspects of insulin.

Banting subsequently made a vigorous and sustained attack on the physiological problems associated with the suprarenal gland, facilitated studies on silicosis, made significant advances in knowledge of the etiology of cancer, and was mainly responsible for the initiation of aviation medical research in Canada even before the outbreak of war.

Nobel Prize and Other Honors

In 1923 Banting received the Nobel Prize in medicine jointly with Macleod. With characteristic generosity he divided his share with Best; Macleod did the same with Collip. That year the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research was established by the university with a special grant from the Ontario Legislature. In 1934 Banting was created a knight commander of the British Empire and the following year was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was killed in a plane crash on the coast of Newfoundland, Feb. 21, 1941, while on a war mission to England.

Further Reading

Two studies of Banting are Seale Harris, Banting's Miracle: The Story of the Discoverer of Insulin (1946), and Lloyd Stevenson, Sir Frederick Banting (1946; rev. ed. 1947). See also G.A. Wrenshall, G. Hetenyi, and W.R. Feasby, The Story of Insulin: Forty Years of Success against Diabetes (1962).

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Sir Frederick Grant Banting
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia - People
Banting, Sir Frederick Grant, 1891-1941, Canadian physician, M.D. Univ. of Toronto, 1922. From 1923 he was professor of medical research at Toronto. Working with C. H. Best under the direction of J. J. R. Macleod, he succeeded in isolating (1921) from the pancreas the hormone later called insulin. For this he shared with Macleod the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was knighted in 1934. Besides his work on insulin, he made valuable studies of the cortex of the adrenal glands, of cancer, and of silicosis and stimulated research in aviation medicine. He was killed in a plane crash while en route to England on a medical war mission.

Bibliography

See S. Harris, Banting's Miracle (1946).

Wikipedia: Frederick Banting
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia

Sir Frederick Grant Banting
KBE MC FRSC LLD (hc) DSc (hc) MB

Born November 14, 1891(1891-11-14)
Alliston, Ontario, Canada
Died February 21, 1941 (aged 49)
Newfoundland, now part of Canada
Nationality Canada
Alma mater University of Toronto
Known for Discovery of insulin
Notable awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1923)

Sir Frederick Grant Banting, KBE, MC, MD, FRSC (November 14, 1891 – February 21, 1941) was a Canadian medical scientist, doctor and Nobel laureate noted as one of the co-discoverers of insulin.

In 1927 Banting and John James Rickard Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Banting shared the award money with his colleague, Dr. Charles Best. The Canadian government gave him a lifetime annuity to work on his research. In 1934 King George V bestowed a knighthood on him, making him Sir Frederick Banting.

In 2004, Frederick Banting was voted 4th place on the The Greatest Canadian.

Contents

Early years

Frederick Grant Banting was born on 14 November 1891, in Alliston, Ontario. He was the youngest of five children of William Thompson Banting and Margaret Grant. Educated at the Public and High Schools at Alliston, he later went to the University of Toronto to study divinity, but soon transferred to the study of medicine. In 1916 he took his M.B. degree and at once joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps, and served, during the First World War, in France. In 1918 he was wounded at the battle of Cambrai and in 1919 he was awarded the Military Cross for heroism under fire. When the war ended in 1919, Banting returned to Canada and was for a short time a medical practitioner in London, Ontario. He studied orthopaedic medicine and was, during the year 1919-1920, Resident Surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. From 1920 until 1921 he did part-time teaching in orthopaedics and Anthropology at the University of Western Ontario at London, Canada, besides his general practice, and from 1921 until 1922 he was Lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Toronto. In 1922 he was awarded his M.D. degree, together with a gold medal.

Scientific work

Banting had become deeply interested in diabetes. The work of Naunyn, Minkowski, Opie, Schafer, and others had indicated that diabetes was caused by lack of a protein hormone secreted by the Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. To this hormone Schafer had given the name insulin, and it was supposed that insulin controls the metabolism of sugar, so that lack of it results in the accumulation of sugar in the blood and the excretion of the excess of sugar in the urine. Attempts to supply the missing insulin by feeding patients with fresh pancreas, or extracts of it, had failed, presumably because the protein insulin in these had been destroyed by the proteolytic enzyme of the pancreas. The problem, therefore, was how to extract insulin from the pancreas before it had been thus destroyed.

While he was considering this problem, Banting read in a medical journal an article by Moses Baron, which pointed out that, when the pancreatic duct was experimentally closed by ligatures, the cells of the pancreas which secrete trypsin degenerate, but that the Islets of Langerhans remain intact. This suggested to Banting the idea that ligation of the pancreatic duct would, by destroying the cells which secrete trypsin, avoid the destruction of the insulin, so that, after sufficient time had been allowed for the degeneration of the trypsin-secreting cells, insulin might be extracted from the intact Islets of Langerhans.

Determined to investigate this possibility, Banting discussed it with various people, among whom was J. J. R. Macleod, Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto, and Macleod gave him facilities for experimental work upon it. Dr. Charles Best, then a medical student, was appointed as Banting's assistant, and together, Banting and Best started the work which was to lead to the discovery of insulin.

In 1922 Banting had been appointed Senior Demonstrator in Medicine at the University of Toronto, and in 1923 he was elected to the Banting and Best Chair of Medical Research, which had been endowed by the Legislature of the Province of Ontario. He was also appointed Honorary Consulting Physician to the Toronto General Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children, and the Toronto Western Hospital. In the Banting and Best Institute, Banting dealt with the problems of silicosis, cancer, the mechanism of drowning and how to counteract it. During the Second World War he became greatly interested in problems connected with flying (such as blackout).

In addition to his medical degree, Banting also obtained, in 1923, the LL.D. degree (Queens) and the D.Sc. degree (Toronto). Prior to the award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1923, which he shared with Macleod, he received the Reeve Prize of the University of Toronto (1922). In 1923, the Canadian Parliament granted him a Life Annuity of $7,500. In 1928 Banting gave the Cameron Lecture in Edinburgh. He was appointed member of numerous medical academies and societies in his country and abroad, including the British and American Physiological Societies, and the American Pharmacological Society. He was knighted in 1934.

As a keen painter, Banting once took part of a painting expedition above the Arctic Circle, sponsored by the Government.

Banting married Marion Robertson in 1924; they had one child, William (b. 1928). This marriage ended in a divorce in 1932, and in 1937 Banting married Henrietta Ball.

In 1938 Banting developed an interest in aviation medicine that resulted in his participation with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in research concerning the physiological problems encountered by pilots operating high-altitude combat aircraft. Banting headed the Number 1 Clinical Investigation Unit (CIU) of the RCAF, housed in a secret facility on the grounds of the former Eglinton Hunt Club in Toronto. In February 1941, Banting was killed in an air crash in Newfoundland while in route to England to conduct operational tests on the Franks flying suit developed by his colleague Wilbur Franks.

Legacy

An oil painting of Sir Frederick Banting in 1925 by Tibor Polya, now in the possession of the National Portrait Gallery of Canada

Banting's name is immortalised in the yearly Banting Lectures, given by an expert in diabetes and by the creation of Banting Memorial High School in Alliston, ON; Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School in London, ON; Sir Frederick Banting Alternative Program Site in Ottawa, ON; and École Banting Middle School in Coquitlam, BC. The Banting Interpretation Centre in Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador is a museum named after him which focuses on the circumstances surrounding the 1941 plane crash which claimed his life. The crater Banting on the Moon is also named after him.

In 1994 Banting was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was nominated as one of the top 10 "Greatest Canadians" by viewers of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. When the final votes were counted, Banting finished fourth behind Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox and Pierre Trudeau.

During the voting for "Greatest Canadians" in late 2003, controversy rose over the future use of the Banting family farm in New Tecumseth which had been left to the Ontario Historical Society by Banting's late nephew, Edward, in 1998. The dispute centred around the future use of the 40 ha (100 acre) property and its buildings. In a year-long negotiation, assisted by a provincially-appointed facilitator, the Town of New Tecumseth offered $1 million to the OHS. The town intended to turn the property over to the Sir Frederick Banting Legacy Foundation for preservation of the property and buildings, and the Legacy Foundation planned to erect a Camp for Diabetic Youths. The day after the November 22, 2006 deadline for the OHS to sign the agreement, the OHS announced that it had sold the property for housing development to Solmar Development for more than 2 million. Solmar reported in the press that their deal with the OHS had been arranged five months earlier. The Town of New Tecumseth announced it would designate the property under the Ontario Heritage Act. This would prevent its commercial development and obligate the owner to maintain it properly. OHS objected. The Ontario Conservation Review Board heard arguments for and against designation in September, 2007 and recommended designation of the entire 100-acre (0.40 km2) property in October. The Town officially passed the designation by-law on November 12, 2007.

In January, 2007, cross-Canada survey by the CBC to identify the 10 Greatest Canadian Inventions, Insulin topped the list in first place.[1]

A painting of his called St. Tîte des Cap sold for $30,000 (cdn) including buyer's premium at a Canadian Art auction in Toronto.[2]

Banting was a relative of William Banting, the discoverer of the first effective low-carbohydrate diet used in weight control.

He appeares in the 2006 historical drama film "Above and Beyond" before going onboard his fatal flight.

Honorary Degrees

Sir Frederick Banting received Honorary Degrees from several Universities:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/inventions/
  2. ^ "Auction Result". Ritchies. November 20, 2006. http://www.ritchies.com/apps/index.cfm?page=auction.popUp&itemId=81838. 
  3. ^ http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/senate/honorary_degrees_by_surname.pdf

External links

Further reading

  • The Discovery of Insulin by Michael Bliss, University of Chicago Press, 1982, ISBN 0-226-05897-2.
  • Banting as an Artist by A.Y. Jackson, Ryerson Press, 1943.
  • Discoverer of Insulin - Dr. Frederick G. Banting by I.E. Levine, New York: Julian Messner, 1962.
  • Frederick Banting by Margaret Mason Shaw, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1976, ISBN 0-889-02229-1.
  • Sir Frederick Banting by Lloyd Stevenson, Ryerson Press, 1946.
  • Banting's miracle; the story of the discoverer of insulin by Seale Harris, Lippincott, 1946.
  • Elixir by Eric Walters, Puffin Canada, 2005, ISBN 0-143-01641-5.
  • Raju, T N (October 1998). "The Nobel Chronicles. 1923: Frederick G Banting (1891-1941), John J R Macleod (1876-1935)". Lancet (ENGLAND) 352 (9138): 1482. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 9808029. 
  • Hudson, R P. "New light on the insulin controversey (Frederick G. Banting and J. J. R. Macleod)". Ann. Intern. Med. (UNITED STATES) 91 (2): 311. ISSN 0003-4819. PMID 380438. 
  • Fletcher, Katharine (June 2007). "Sir Frederick Banting homestead sold to developer, family outraged". CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne (Canada) 176 (12): 1691–2. doi:10.1503/cmaj.070613. PMID 17548378. 
  • Shampo, Marc A; Kyle Robert A (May. 2005). "Frederick Banting--Nobel laureate for discovery of insulin". Mayo Clin. Proc. (United States) 80 (5): 576. doi:10.4065/80.5.576. PMID 15887423. 
  • MacLeod, Jana B A (July 2006). "Frederick G. Banting: Giving prospects for life from the past to the new millennium". Archives of surgery (Chicago, Ill. : 1960) (United States) 141 (7): 705–7. doi:10.1001/archsurg.141.7.705. PMID 16847245. 
  • Elliot, Joanne C. "Banting--a Nobel artist". Med. J. Aust. (Australia) 181 (11-12): 631. ISSN 0025-729X. PMID 15588191. 
  • TODHUNTER, E N (November 1953). "Frederick G. Banting, November 14, 1891-February 22, 1941". Journal of the American Dietetic Association (Not Available) 29 (11): 1093. ISSN 0002-8223. PMID 13108539. 
v • d • e
Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine

Emil Behring (1901) · Ronald Ross (1902) · Niels Finsen (1903) · Ivan Pavlov (1904) · Robert Koch (1905) · Camillo Golgi / Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1906) · Alphonse Laveran (1907) · Ilya Mechnikov / Paul Ehrlich (1908) · Emil Kocher (1909) · Albrecht Kossel (1910) · Allvar Gullstrand (1911) · Alexis Carrel (1912) · Charles Richet (1913) · Robert Bárány (1914) · Jules Bordet (1919) · August Krogh (1920) · Archibald Hill / Otto Meyerhof (1922) · Frederick Banting / John Macleod (1923) · Willem Einthoven (1924)
Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Earl of Birkenhead		 Cover of Time Magazine
27 August 1923		 Succeeded by
David Lloyd George

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Who2 Biography. Copyright © 1998-2008 by Who2, LLC. All rights reserved. See the Frederick Banting biography from Who2.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Scientist. History of Science and Technology, edited by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Frederick Banting".  Read more