September 6th is John Macleod's birthday. Macleod was a Scottish physician who shares the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Frederick Banting for the discovery of insulin.
The 1923 Medicine Prize is one of the more controversial Nobel Prize awards because there were two others that contributed the vital work. Charles Best was an research associate of Macleod's who was given the task of isolating the compound responsible for regulating blood sugar from the pancreas of dogs while Macleod went to his home country on vacation. When Macleod returned, he found Banting and Best was partially successful and advised them to repeat their experiments with a few modifications to technique and better controls. Macleod supplied better laboratory space and equipment to Best and Banting so they could improve their techniques. Another addition was James Collip, a chemistry professor on sabbatical to aid the team. Collip and Best discovered biochemical methods to isolate insulin on a large scale.
When the Prize was awarded with no mention of either Best or Collip, Banting did not want to accept his half of the Prize since he felt Macleod did not contribute intellectually to the discovery at near the level of Best. Banting changed his mind and split his share of the Prize money with Best. Later, Macleod shared his half with Collip.
It is not unusual for the person who runs a laboratory to receive credit for the work and discoveries accomplished in their lab by the people working under them. The work would not have been done at all without Macleod's contribution of grant money, laboratory space, supplies, personnel and equipment.
Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.
The 1923 Medicine Prize is one of the more controversial Nobel Prize awards because there were two others that contributed the vital work. Charles Best was an research associate of Macleod's who was given the task of isolating the compound responsible for regulating blood sugar from the pancreas of dogs while Macleod went to his home country on vacation. When Macleod returned, he found Banting and Best was partially successful and advised them to repeat their experiments with a few modifications to technique and better controls. Macleod supplied better laboratory space and equipment to Best and Banting so they could improve their techniques. Another addition was James Collip, a chemistry professor on sabbatical to aid the team. Collip and Best discovered biochemical methods to isolate insulin on a large scale.
When the Prize was awarded with no mention of either Best or Collip, Banting did not want to accept his half of the Prize since he felt Macleod did not contribute intellectually to the discovery at near the level of Best. Banting changed his mind and split his share of the Prize money with Best. Later, Macleod shared his half with Collip.
It is not unusual for the person who runs a laboratory to receive credit for the work and discoveries accomplished in their lab by the people working under them. The work would not have been done at all without Macleod's contribution of grant money, laboratory space, supplies, personnel and equipment.
Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.
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