Discovery of Insulin
Discovery of Insulin  
Podcast: History Dispatches
Published On: Tue Feb 10 2026
Description: Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, affecting over 500 million people. Today it is very manageable, and thanks to modern medicine most people can live a long, normal life. But that was not always the case. Before the 1920s diabetes was often a death sentence. At least until Frederick Banting and Charles Best found a way to isolate insulin from dog pancreases. This is the story of the discovery of insulin. Sources https://diabetes.org/blog/history-wonderful-thing-we-call-insulin https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6205949/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666970621000494 Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C._H._Best_and_F._G._Banting_ca._1924_Insulin_P10103_0001.jpg History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices