Storiascopio · Era 11 of 12 · lower secondary year 3
Insulin against diabetes
1922 · Toronto, Canada
In short
In those days type 1 diabetes was almost always fatal: it is caused by a lack of insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas. In 1921, at the University of Toronto, in Canada, the doctor Frederick Banting and the student Charles Best managed to extract insulin. In January 1922 they tried it on a 14-year-old boy, Leonard Thompson, who quickly got better. Within a few months insulin had saved the lives of a great many patients.
Why it matters Even today millions of people with diabetes live normal lives thanks to insulin.
Source: The Nobel Prize, “The Discovery of Insulin”
Where we are in the era “Early 20th century”
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1903Event 10 of 25about 1950
Your turn
Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________
When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:
Tell it in your own words: what happened?
Draw the scene below.
storiascopio.com/en/event/insulin-against-diabetes/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class