Person

Banting, F. G. (Frederick Grant), 1891-1941

1891-1941

Sir Frederick Grant Banting was born on November 14, 1891, in Alliston, Ontario.

He was a Canadian pharmacologist, orthopedist, and field surgeon, educated at the University of Toronto. He began studying divinity but soon switched to medicine (M.B., 1916). In 1916, he joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps and served during the First World War in France. In 1918, he was wounded at the Battle of Cambrai, and in 1919, he was awarded the Military Cross for heroism under fire. He studied orthopedic medicine and was a Resident Surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto (1919-1920). From 1920 until 1921, he was a part-time teacher in orthopedics at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, in addition to his general practice. From 1921 until 1922, he was a Lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Toronto. In 1922, he was awarded his M.D. degree, together with a gold medal. Earlier, however, Banting had become deeply interested in diabetes. Dr. Charles Best, then a medical student, was appointed as Banting’s assistant, and together, Banting and Best started the work which led to the discovery of insulin. In 1922, Banting was appointed Senior Demonstrator in Medicine at the University of Toronto, and in 1923, he was elected to the Banting and Best Chair of Medical Research. He was also appointed Honorary Consulting Physician to the Toronto General Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children, and the Toronto Western Hospital. In the Banting and Best Institute, Banting dealt with the problems of silicosis, cancer, the mechanism of drowning, and how to counteract it. During the Second World War, he became greatly interested in problems connected with flying (such as blackouts). In addition to his medical degree, Banting also obtained the LL.D. degree (Queens, 1923) and the D.Sc. degree (Toronto). Before the award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923, which he shared with John Macleod, he received the Reeve Prize of the University of Toronto (1922). In 1923, the Canadian Parliament granted him a Life Annuity of $7,500. In 1928, Banting gave the Cameron Lecture in Edinburgh. He was a member of the British and American Physiological Societies and the American Pharmacological Society. He was knighted in 1934. As a keen painter, Banting once took part in a painting expedition above the Arctic Circle, sponsored by the Government. When the Second World War broke out, he served as a liaison officer between the British and North American medical services and was killed in an air disaster in Newfoundland.

In 1924, he married Marion Wilson Robertson (1896–1944) and they divorced in 1932. In 1939, he remarried Lady Henrietta Elizabeth Ball (1912–1976). He died on February 21, 1941, due to wounds and exposure following a plane crash at Musgrave Harbour Airport, Newfoundland and Labrador.