Charles Herbert Best 1899 - 1978

occupation:
Physiologist
Nationality:
Canadian

Canadian doctor Frederick Banting and American biomedical scientist Charles Best co-discovered insulin in 1921. This is a life-saving treatment for diabetes.

Banting and Best performed pancreas experiments on dogs to measure sugar in their urine and blood. Over a summer they extracted the first antidiabetic substance. In January 1922 a diabetic teenager called Leonard Thompson was the first person to receive an insulin injection.

Banting and Best received many awards for their discovery. In 1929, best became Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto.