Description

The Nobel Prize-winning discovery of insulin in 1921 is one of the 20th century’s most celebrated medical discoveries, which has saved millions of lives around the world.

Scientists Frederick Banting, Charles Best, J.J.R. Macleod and James Collip worked together to isolate and purify insulin in a University of Toronto laboratory. Isolation of the hormone transformed medical outcomes and dramatically improved the quality of life for diabetes patients, who were previously debilitated by the disease.

The Nobel Prize committee in 1923 credited the practical extraction of insulin to a team at the University of Toronto and awarded the Nobel Prize to two men: Frederick Banting and J.J.R. Macleod. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923 for the discovery of insulin. Banting, incensed that Best was not mentioned, shared his prize with him, and Macleod immediately shared his with James Collip. The patent for insulin was sold to the University of Toronto for one dollar.

It is the fifth coin in The Royal Mint’s ‘Innovation in Science’ series was produced in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen and celebrates the 100 Anniversary of the Discovery of Insulin. It is the first time the historic medical breakthrough, more often associated with Canada where the work was undertaken, has been celebrated on a UK coin.