Introduction
Charles Best is best known for his co-discover of insulin, a hormone which helps to move sugar through the blood. Insulin is used for people with type 1 diabetes because they cannot regulate sugar through their blood. Charles Best worked with Frederick Banting to discover this hormone.
Early Life
Charles Herbert Best was born on February 27, 1899 in West Pembroke, Maine. He was the son of Luella Fisher and Herbert Huestis Best. Both his parents were from Nova Scotia. Best married Margaret Hooper Mahon in Toronto in 1924 and they had two sons. One of them grew to become a well-known man who later became the president of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Best died on March 31, 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, at the age of 79.
Why a Historical Figure?
Charles Best was the co-discoverer of insulin, insulin is a hormone which helps move sugar through the human blood. Using this hormone, you can regulate sugar through your blood if you have type 1 diabetes. (type 1 diabetes is a disease which stops the circulation of sugar through blood) He worked as an assistant to Doctor Frederick Banting, often doing experiments to find a cure to diabetes.
Expertise
Charles Best specialized in medicine, like his father who was a physician. Always eager to learn and a faithful assistant to Doctor Banting. Running into many failing attempts at discovering a cure to diabetes, he was persistent and determined to keep trying until he'd accomplished what he had worked for.
Education and Accomplishments
Best with
diabetic dog
Charles moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1915 where he studied to earn a bachelor of arts degree at University College, University of Toronto. In 1918 he enrolled in the Canadian Army serving with the second Canadian Tank Battalion. After the war, he finished his degree in physiology and biochemistry. At the age of 22, Best was a medical student at the University of Toronto. Here, he worked as an assistant to Frederick Banting, the two worked together to find a cure to the disease. In the spring of 1921, Banting traveled to Toronto to visit Rickard Macleod, professor of physiology at the University of Toronto, and asked him if he could use his science lab. After agreeing, Macleod supplied Banting with ten dogs for experiment and two medical students, Charles Best and Clark Noble, as assistants. The two assistants flipped a coin to decide who would assist Banting first. Best won and was declared the first assistant. Banting decided to keep Charles Best for the summer because Noble was no longer interested. In 1923, the Nobel Prize Committee honored Banting and Macleod with the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering insulin. Rickard Macleod was honored in place of Best, this was unfair but seeing this, Banting chose to split his prize money with Best.
Interesting Facts and Awards/Honors
- if Clark Noble had won the coin toss, this discovery may not have turned up at all
- was elected a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1948
- was the first Canadian to be elected into the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
- in 1994 Best was put into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame
Conclusion
Best has made a significant discovery which has and will be appreciated for years to come. He has saved the lives of many diabetic patients with his one simple discovery. The discovery of insulin.