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Remembering Frederick Banting

Broadcast Date: Feb. 21, 1991

On Feb. 21, 1941, Frederick Banting leaves Newfoundland for England to conduct a medical research survey. For his discovery of insulin as a treatment for diabetes in 1922, Banting and his partner J.J.R. Macleod had been awarded the Nobel Prize and won international acclaim. Tragically, Banting's small plane crashes shortly after takeoff. The pilot, Captain Joseph Creighton Mackey, is the only survivor. In this CBC Television news clip, local residents recall the terrible crash and rescue effort.

Remembering Frederick Banting

• Navigator William Bird and radio operator William Snailham were also killed in the plane crash.
• Frederick Banting was born in his family's farmhouse on Nov. 14, 1891, just outside of Alliston, Ont. He was deemed an unremarkable student and earned below-average grades. Following high school, he attended divinity college in Toronto before dropping out and enrolling in medical school.

• In May 1921, Professor J.J.R. Macleod introduced his student Charles Best to Dr. Frederick Banting. Banting had a theory about isolating a part of the pancreas and extracting insulin with which he hoped to treat diabetics. The two began work on May 17, 1921, the day after Best finished his undergraduate exams.
• Banting and Best became global celebrities following the announcement of the discovery of insulin. Banting was granted a life annuity of $7,500 by the Canadian Parliament in 1923 and was knighted in 1934. While not best friends, Banting and Best regarded each other warmly and spoke of each other highly.

• Following Banting's 1941 death, Best was the natural successor to assume the directorship of the Banting and Best department of medical research at the University of Toronto. He retired in 1965.
• Dr. Best died on March 31, 1978, at Toronto General Hospital after a blood vessel ruptured in his stomach.

• The house where Banting brainstormed the idea for insulin, in London, Ont., has been designated the Banting Museum and Education Centre. At the front of the house, a small flame burns representing the hope for a cure for diabetes. The flame is to be extinguished once a cure is found.
• For more on the discovery of insulin, please visit our topic Chasing a Cure for Diabetes.

Remembering Frederick Banting

Medium: Television

Program: Here & Now

Broadcast Date: Feb. 21, 1991

Guest(s): Roland Abbott, Marge Brown

Reporter: David Zelcer

Duration: 2:05

Photo: Library and Archives Canada/PA-178289

Last updated:
Jan. 6, 2009