Who was Frederick Banting and how did he discover insulin? Scientist marked with Google Doodle on World Diabetes Day
FREDERICK Banting is being celebrated today in a Google Doodle - but how much do you know about the Canadian medical scientist who co-discovered insulin?
November 14 is Sir Frederick's 125th birthday as well as World Diabetes Day.
In 1920 Banting formulated a research project aimed at isolating a substance produced by the pancreas, which was believed to hold the key to treating diabetes.
His team discovered insulin and developed a means of extracting it from the fetal pancreas of calves.
This remained a primary commercial source of the hormone until it began to be genetically-engineered in the late 20th century.
In 1922 Banting started to successfully use insulin to treat patients with diabetes.
The scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in recognition of his work in 1923.
At just 32 he remains the youngest person to receive the award in the area of medicine.
Banting was jointly awarded the prize with JJR Macleod, professor of physiology at the University of Toronto, who had given him the resources for the project.
But, Banting divided his half of the prize money with Charles Best who he believed had contributed more to the groundbreaking work.
Sir Frederick was also knighted by King George V in 1934.
Today's Google Doodle replaces an O of Google with a bottle of insulin alongside an image of Sir Frederick and a diagram of the digestive system.
Before commencing his work in medicine Sir Frederick had been awarded the Military Cross for heroism under fire during the First World War.
He went on to contribute to the invention of the G-suit for pilots - which helped the allies in the Second World War.
The suit prevented blood pooling in the lower part of the body, which could cause pilots to black out.
Sadly, Banting died from injuries suffered in a plane crash in 1941.
He had been flying secret research to Britain to help the Allied war effort.
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