How the Manchester Guardian reported the discoveries of one of the first scientists to successfully use insulin to treat people with Type 1 diabetes

World Diabetes Day, held on 14 November, marks the birthday of Frederick Banting, one of the two men who first successfully used insulin to treat Type1 diabetes in 1922. It was an important discovery that ultimately enabled those with the condition to lead normal lives.

The Manchester Guardian, 13 September 1922. Click image to read article.

In May 1921, Banting, a Canadian doctor, along with medical student Charles Best, managed to isolate the hormone insulin. They injected the extract into a diabetic dog, close to death, restoring it to health. A few months later they were able to produce a form that was effective in treating humans, the first person to receive insulin being Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy. Other volunteer diabetics reacted just as positively to the insulin extract. The Manchester Guardian reported the discovery on 13 September 1922 (see above).

The following year, on 23 July 1923, the 'epoch-making discovery', as the Guardian put it, began to be acknowledged by the medical profession. On the same day the paper reported that the cost of insulin was about to be reduced. Also that month, Banting gave a lecture about his discoveries to a packed hall full of members of the British Medical Association. The paper's medical correspondent later wrote about anaemia and the significance of Banting's research.

The Manchester Guardian, 29 October 1923. Click to read.

Banting was awarded a share of the 1923 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his achievement, donating part of the prize to research. He became head of the University of Toronto's Banting and Best Department of Medical Research and was knighted in 1934. He died on 21 February 1941 in a plane crash while on a war mission.

The Manchester Guardian, 25 February 1941. Click to read.



Sir Frederick Banting's obituary noted that his scientific discovery "centred on a single experiment. But what an experiment in its importance for humanity!"