History will remember the discovery of insulin as one of the most remarkable milestones in modern medicine. Millions of children and adults have been rescued from the clutches of Type 1 diabetes thanks to insulin. There is no doubt that Dr. Frederick Banting, the fiery Canadian surgeon who conceived the concept, is known to most people.
During the summer of 1921, a 21-year-old undergraduate student performed delicate chemical analyses alongside Banting in a sweltering laboratory, sharing the physical toll of the research.
Charles Herbert Best was that student.
When the Nobel Committee awarded its 1923 prize for the discovery of insulin, Best was notoriously excluded for his vital role in isolating insulin and testing its efficacy in living organisms. As a result of that omission, Best was forced to navigate academic rivalries, historical revisionism, and a lifelong battle to ensure his rightful place in medical history for decades.
Charles Best was a brilliant scientist who spent decades ensuring that the truth about insulin discovery would never be forgotten.
An important coin toss in medical history
His parents were Canadian and he was born in West Maine, U.S., in 1899. His passion for medicine and science led him to pursue his education at the University of Toronto. As a 21-year-old undergraduate student finishing his double major in physiology and biochemistry, Best was in high demand.
Bright, quiet, and talented, he was particularly adept at measuring glucose levels in blood and urine samples using emerging technologies.
In the same period, Frederick Banting arrived at the university with a theory about isolating internal secretions from the pancreas that had not been proven. An assistant who could perform the precise chemical assays required to monitor whether their experimental extracts were lowering blood sugar levels was needed by Banting.
Charles Best and Clark Noble were offered the opportunity to assist Banting over the summer break by professor John Macleod of the physiology department.
Both students wanted the position, so they flipped a coin to decide who would work the first half and who would work the second half. Best chose to begin work immediately in May 1921 after winning the toss.
As a result of that coin toss, Best’s life changed forever. As the second half of the summer approached, Banting and Best had formed such a seamless working rhythm that Noble graciously stepped aside, allowing Best to continue working in the laboratory.
The Attic Laboratory’s Sweltering Summer
Best and Banting worked under notoriously brutal conditions during the summer of 1921. On the top floor of the university’s medical building, they were assigned an unused, poorly ventilated room. The lab became an oven as summer temperatures soared.
Banting was an orthopedic surgeon with limited knowledge of chemical research techniques. Banting lacked the precise biochemistry skills that Best possessed.
At the bench, Best prepared reagents, ran blood tests, and measured sugar levels down to the exact milligram, while Banting performed delicate surgeries on experimental dogs to tie off pancreatic ducts.
There were constant setbacks, financial strains, and personal exhaustion in their partnership:
- Surgical challenges: Many of their early experimental animals died of postoperative infections or complications.
- A rigorous testing process was conducted by Best, who often stayed up through the night to run consecutive blood glucose tests in order to discover precisely what effect their extract was having.
- Shared Hardship: Banting sold his personal belongings to buy more experimental dogs when funding ran dry, and Best worked without a formal salary for much of the initial period.
They finally succeeded in July 1921 as a result of their persistence. As Best watched the blood glucose numbers drop on his charts, after injecting his crude pancreatic extract-which they initially called “isletin”-into a diabetic dog in a coma, he watched the blood glucose drop steadily. Several hours later, the dog stood up, wagged its tail, and opened its eyes.
The chemical precision of Best confirmed what Banting had envisioned: the pancreatic secretion had been successfully isolated.
Banting’s loyal reaction to the Nobel snub
A growing team was formed as the research expanded through 1921 and into 1922. The broader clinical strategy was directed by Professor Macleod, a biochemist who joined the group to purify the extract for human use.
Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy, became the first human patient to be successfully treated with insulin at Toronto General Hospital in January 1922. It was an international breakthrough that made headlines around the world, and diabetes was conquered.
The Nobel Prize Committee in Stockholm announced the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine amid a major controversy. Frederick Banting and John Macleod shared the prize.
Charles Best, whose hands-on work made the discovery possible, was completely omitted. A similar omission was made in the official award for James Collip.
In response to the decision, Banting was outraged. Macleod spent the critical summer on vacation in Scotland while Best sweated alongside him in the attic lab. In a public statement, Banting said he shared equal responsibility for Best’s breakthrough and would split his Nobel Prize monetary award with him fifty-fifty.
Macleod, moved by Banting’s public stand, later shared his prize money with James Collip. Banting’s gesture provided financial fairness and public validation, but the official Nobel record remained unchanged, creating a historical wound that Best could not heal.
Establishing an independent scientific legacy
Faced with a devastating public snub at the beginning of his career, Charles Best chose not to retreat into bitterness. Instead, he channeled his energy into becoming one of the most respected medical scientists in the world.
He completed his medical degree at the University of Toronto and earned a Doctorate of Science at the University of London. Best demonstrated that his early success was not a fluke by making several major scientific contributions in his own right:
1. The discovery of Choline
Best conducted groundbreaking research into lipid metabolism, leading to the discovery of choline. Choline ischoline. Choline is an essential nutrient that prevents fatty liver disease and plays a vital role in cellular structure and brain function.
2. Purification of Heparin
In the 1930s, Best focused on cardiovascular health. He led a research team that purified heparin, a powerful natural anticoagulant. Best transformed heparin into a safe, mass-produced clinical drug, preventing fatal blood clots during open-heart surgeries and blood transfusions.
3. Academic Leadership
When John Macleod retired in 1929, Charles Best was appointed Professor and Head of the Physiology Department at the University of Toronto. He took over the very department that had once viewed him as a student assistant. Later, he served as the Director of the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, honoring his late partner’s memory.
The Decade-Long Fight for Historical Truth
While Best built a world-class scientific reputation, the question of who truly discovered insulin continues to linger in academic circles and public history.
Following Banting’s tragic death in a wartime plane crash in 1941, Best found himself the primary surviving member of the original duo. Over the next three decades, Best worked deliberately to ensure his role was recognized in history books, scientific journals, and public monuments.
This campaign was not without friction. Some historians and colleagues argued that Best sometimes overstated his single-handed contribution at the expense of Collip and Macleod, leading to heated debates within the medical history community.
Key events in the decades-long recognition push included:
- International Advocacy: Friends, former colleagues, and international diabetes organizations routinely lobbied the Nobel Committee to acknowledge their historical oversight.
- Archival Preservation: Best meticulously preserved lab notebooks, original blood sugar charts, letters, and photographs from the summer of 1921 to prove the exact sequence of events.
- The 50th Anniversary Re-evaluation: On the 50th anniversary of insulin’s discovery in 1971, public opinion and medical literature had shifted significantly. Major institutions worldwide formally recognized Banting, Best, Collip, and Macleod as insulin co-discoverers.
The Nobel Foundation itself later admitted informally in historical retrospectives that omitting Charles Best had been a significant mistake. This was reflecting the rigid rules of the time that favored department heads over student researchers.
Later Years and Global Honors
In his later years, Charles Best received many of the world’s highest academic and civic honors, validating his life’s work.
- He was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
- He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
- He has received dozens of honorary doctorates from universities across North America and Europe.
- He was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.
Despite these accolades, Best remained deeply connected to diabetes patients’ daily reality. He traveled extensively, meeting with diabetic children and adult patient groups, offering encouragement, and speaking about the ongoing search for a definitive cure.
Charles Best passed away in March 1978 in Toronto at the age of 79, just days after learning his son had died. He was buried near his lifelong friend and lab partner, Sir Frederick Banting.
Charles Best’s Life: Key Takeaways
For scientists, scholars, and everyday people, Charles Good’s remarkable career offers several lessons:
- A combination of preparation and opportunity: The insulin project was awarded to Best because he had mastered the complex lab techniques required for the work well in advance of the opportunity.
- In the face of injustice, Best never gave up and built a long and distinguished career, which led to multiple life-saving medical breakthroughs.
- Partnership and loyalty: Banting and Best’s partnership demonstrated that significant achievements depend on mutual trust, joint labor, and standing up for teammates.
- Documentation is key to preserving truth: the history of our time is documented by the people who did the work. Despite institutional oversight, Best’s meticulous record-keeping ensured truth prevailed.
Lastly,
The journey of Charles Best began when he was 21 years old and won a coin toss. He changed the world forever. Despite institutional oversight preventing him from winning the Nobel Prize in 1923, his work in that sweltering attic laboratory and his role in saving millions of lives cannot be erased.
The steadfast advocacy for historical accuracy that Best exhibited for decades on heparin and choline earned him more than a single trophy: permanent gratitude from the global medical community and a legacy as one of history’s greatest advocates for human health.
