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Students who shook the medical world

BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0610390 (Published 01 October 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:0610390
  1. Sanjay A Pai, consultant pathologist and head1
  1. 1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Manipal Hospital, Airport Road, Bangalore 560 017, India

One medical student's contribution to medicine nearly won him a Nobel prize, and others have been immortalised eponymously.Sanjay A Pai investigates

Who discovered insulin? Ask any medical student, and chances are that the answer will be “Banting and Best.” Some students might even be aware that Charles Best was a medical student at the time he was involved in this exciting research. Few will know of other medical students who were involved in research of historical interest. Research, after all, is usually associated with senior scientists working in laboratories. But the list of students who've made important contributions to science is long-and you'll be surprised to see some familiar names.

Nobel prize, almost

To head the list, of course, is the name already mentioned-Charles Best. Frederick Banting, an orthopaedic surgeon with an unsuccessful practice, decided to switch to research. In 1921, he approached John Macleod, professor of physiology at the University of Toronto, with a project to discover a cure for diabetes mellitus, then a great killer. He asked for an assistant and, after a toss of a coin, decided upon second year medical student Charles Best.

Joined later by James Collip, they discovered and purified insulin. The Nobel Committee, however, awarded the prize only to Banting and Macleod. Irritated, Banting shared half of his prize money with Best. Not to be outdone, Macleod shared his with Collip. Much has been written about the relative contributions of the investigators and it is generally accepted by scholars now that all four indeed made important contributions. The story of the discovery of insulin illustrates many things-the importance of luck and of the selection of an important topic for research; how controversy can follow research and the Nobel prize; and, of course, of student discoverers in science.12

Eponymised and immortalised

Paul Langerhans was also a medical …

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