Frederick G. Banting
By: Ivy Forbey
Frederick and Best in the J.J.R Laborotory
Fredericks life story
Frederick Banting was born in Canada on November 14, 1891. Banting was the youngest of his five siblings. His parents were William Thompson Banting and Margaret Grant. As a child Banting was fascinated with medicine and the army. His first dream job was to enroll in the army but unfortunately he had poor eyesight, so he decided to continue learning more but still keeping the thought of his new career close to the army. He enrolled in divinity courses at the University of Toronto. That's when he found the love of medicine. He completed his education and earned an M.B. from the University of Toronto in the year 1961. At the university of Toronto he studied Orthopedic Medicine. Orthopedic medicine is the study of the musculoskeletal system. They work on your bones, ligaments, muscles, etc. Orthopedics try to educate you to keep your muscles and bones protected and strong. They try to stop your muscles from hurting or becoming inflamed. If your knee was to be injured it would be treated by an orthopedic physician. They would give you pills to stop it from hurting and or becoming inflamed. Banting earned a place at the Canadian Medical Corps and worked there through WWI. Banting was injured during the battle of Cambria in 1919, but still continued to save the lives of many soldiers. He was awarded the Military Cross for 'heroism', and was commemorated.
When the war had ended Frederick went back to studying about medicine, and thinking about his friend Jane. When Frederick was only 14 years old he had to watch his friend Jane die from diabetes. Watching his friend pass away was a tragic event in his life that drove him to find a way to help people with diabetes live a more happier and longer life. So he got to work! In Banting's day nobody knew what "insulin" was or what it did until Banting's Hypothesis.
Banting started working at the laboratory of J.J.R. Macleod at the University of Toronto. Even though there was very few people who believed in Banting's theory. He believed if he was to destroy the rest of the pancreas, he could isolate the key substance. Banting had an assistance named "Charles Best". They started operating on 10 dogs. At the beginning of the experiment everything went bad, seven of their dogs died in the first two weeks. Still, Banting was too determined not to give up. So he sold his car to buy more dogs. He removed the pancreases of some of the dogs, and injected their pancreas with the insulin. Banting and Best came up with the name of "isletin", but they added a Chemist to there team and the word "isletin" became "insulin" after being changed by the university. The result of the test was stunning, although temporary. Banting now turned his attention to human testing. But first, they had to do a test on themselves to make sure it was safe. In January of 1922, they tested their solution on their first human. A 14 year old just like his childhood friend Jane. The young boy showed immediate improvement. With further testing they soon found out that there solution had worked. Their solution has saved so many lives and has made a huge difference in lives all around the world.
When World War II broke out, Banting went to work with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, to serve on the frontlines, but was denied because his skills was needed somewhere else. He was to research and gather information. While flying over England his plane went down over Newfoundland. Even though he was badly injured his last few seconds of life was spent wrapping the wounds of a pilot. Completely tending to the wounds of the pilot instead of his own. Banting died at the age of 49 on February 21,1941. He was awarded the Nobel-prize for his invention of insulin. He will be remembered for his bravery, selflessness, and his invention of insulin.