Editing Insulin (section)

=== Nobel Prizes ===
[[File:C. H. Best and F. G. Banting ca. 1924.png|thumb|left|[[Frederick Banting]] (right) joined by [[Charles Best (medical scientist)|Charles Best]] in 1924]]

The [[Nobel Prize]] committee in 1923 credited the practical extraction of insulin to a team at the [[University of Toronto]] and awarded the Nobel Prize to two men: [[Frederick Banting]] and [[John Macleod (physiologist)|John Macleod]].<ref name="urlThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923">{{cite web | url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1923/ | title = The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923 | publisher = The Nobel Foundation }}</ref> They were awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1923 for the discovery of insulin. Banting, incensed that Best was not mentioned,<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Felman A | date = 22 November 2018 | title = Who discovered insulin? | work = Medical News Today | url = https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323774.php}}</ref> shared his prize with him, and Macleod immediately shared his with [[James Collip]]. The patent for insulin was sold to the [[University of Toronto]] for one dollar.

Two other Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work on insulin. British molecular biologist [[Frederick Sanger]], who determined the [[primary structure]] of insulin in 1955, was awarded the 1958 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]].<ref name="Stretton_2002">{{cite journal | vauthors = Stretton AO | title = The first sequence. Fred Sanger and insulin | journal = Genetics | volume = 162 | issue = 2 | pages = 527–32 | date = October 2002 | doi = 10.1093/genetics/162.2.527 | pmid = 12399368 | pmc = 1462286 }}</ref> [[Rosalyn Sussman Yalow]] received the 1977 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the development of the [[radioimmunoassay]] for insulin.

Several Nobel Prizes also have an indirect connection with insulin. [[George Minot]], co-recipient of the 1934 Nobel Prize for the development of the first effective treatment for [[pernicious anemia]], had [[diabetes]]. [[William Bosworth Castle|William Castle]] observed that the 1921 discovery of insulin, arriving in time to keep Minot alive, was therefore also responsible for the discovery of a cure for [[pernicious anemia]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Castle WB | title = The Gordon Wilson Lecture. A Century of Curiosity About Pernicious Anemia | journal = Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association | volume = 73 | pages = 54–80 | year = 1962 | pmid = 21408623 | pmc = 2249021 | author-link = William Bosworth Castle }}</ref> [[Dorothy Hodgkin]] was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 for the development of [[crystallography]], the technique she used for deciphering the complete molecular structure of insulin in 1969.<ref name=":2" />

==== Controversy ====
[[File:Nicolae Paulescu - Foto03.jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|[[Nicolae Paulescu]]]]

The work published by Banting, Best, Collip and Macleod represented the preparation of purified insulin extract suitable for use on human patients.<ref name="pmid20314060">{{cite journal | vauthors = Banting FG, Best CH, Collip JB, Campbell WR, Fletcher AA | title = Pancreatic Extracts in the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus | journal = Canadian Medical Association Journal | volume = 12 | issue = 3 | pages = 141–46 | date = March 1922 | pmid = 20314060 | pmc = 1524425 }}</ref> Although Paulescu discovered the principles of the treatment, his saline extract could not be used on humans; he was not mentioned in the 1923 Nobel Prize. Ian Murray was particularly active in working to correct "the historical wrong" against [[Nicolae Paulescu]]. Murray was a professor of physiology at the Anderson College of Medicine in [[Glasgow]], [[Scotland]], the head of the department of Metabolic Diseases at a leading Glasgow hospital, vice-president of the British Association of Diabetes, and a founding member of the [[International Diabetes Federation]]. Murray wrote:

{{blockquote|Insufficient recognition has been given to Paulescu, the distinguished [[Romania]]n scientist, who at the time when the Toronto team were commencing their research had already succeeded in extracting the antidiabetic hormone of the pancreas and proving its efficacy in reducing the hyperglycaemia in diabetic dogs.<ref name="pmid4560502">{{cite journal | vauthors = Drury MI | title = The golden jubile of insulin | journal = Journal of the Irish Medical Association | volume = 65 | issue = 14 | pages = 355–63 | date = July 1972 | pmid = 4560502 }}</ref>
}}

In a private communication, [[Arne Tiselius]], former head of the Nobel Institute, expressed his personal opinion that Paulescu was equally worthy of the award in 1923.<ref name="pmid4930788">{{cite journal | vauthors = Murray I | title = Paulesco and the isolation of insulin | journal = Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences | volume = 26 | issue = 2 | pages = 150–57 | date = April 1971 | pmid = 4930788 | doi = 10.1093/jhmas/XXVI.2.150 }}</ref>