Charles Herbert Best (February 27, 1899 – March 31, 1978), was an American-Canadian medical scientist and one of the co-discoverers of insulin with Frederick Banting. He served as the chair of the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research at the University of Toronto and was further involved in research concerning choline and heparin.

Early life

Charles Herbert Best was born in Pembroke, Maine, on February 27, 1899, to Luella (Lulu) Fisher and Herbert Huestis Best, a Canadian-born physician from Nova Scotia. His father, Herbert Best, was a doctor in a small Maine town with a limited economy based mostly on sardine-packing. He served as an infantry soldier, reaching the rank of acting Sergeant Major.

As a 22-year-old medical student at the University of Toronto he worked as an assistant to the surgeon Dr. Frederick Banting and contributed to the discovery of the pancreatic hormone insulin, which led to an effective treatment for diabetes. In the spring of 1921, Banting travelled to Toronto to visit John Macleod, professor of physiology at the University of Toronto, and asked Macleod if he could use his laboratory to isolate pancreatic extracts from dogs. Macleod was initially sceptical, but eventually agreed before leaving on holiday for the summer. Before leaving for Scotland he supplied Banting with ten dogs for experiment and two medical students, Charles Best and Edward Clark Noble, as lab assistants.

It was reported that Best and Noble flipped a coin to see who would assist Banting during the first period of four weeks. According to Best, however, this was the product of a journalist’s imagination, or "newspaper fiction". Nonetheless, Frederick Banting is known to have mentioned this story when discussing the discovery of insulin.left|Charles Best and [[Frederick Banting, ca. 1924]]MacLeod was overseeing the work of Banting, who had no experience in physiology, and his assistant Best. In December 1921, when Banting and Best were having difficulties in refining the pancreatic extract and monitoring glucose levels, MacLeod assigned the biochemist James Collip to the team. In January 1922, while Collip was working on insulin purification, Best and Banting administered prematurely their pancreatic extracts to 14-year-old Leonard Thompson, who suffered a severe allergic reaction. Eventually, Collip succeeded in preparing insulin in a more pure, usable form. Banting, Best and Collip shared the patent for insulin, which they sold to the University of Toronto for one dollar.

In 1923, the Nobel Prize Committee honoured Banting and John Macleod with the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of insulin, ignoring Best and Collip. Banting chose to share half of the prize money with Best. The key contribution by Collip was recognised in the Nobel speech of MacLeod, who also gave one-half of his prize money to Collip. However, "if Banting was hoping that this might offer Best some consolation for not having shared in the prize, he was mistaken. Best’s resentment at having been overlooked began to irritate Banting", to the point that Banting stated in 1941 "If I don’t come back and they give my [Professorial] Chair to that son-of-a-bitch Best, I’ll never rest in my grave", shortly before Banting boarded a plane for the UK which crashed and killed him. After Banting's death, Best "claimed that the crucial innovation of using alcohol to remove toxic impurities had largely been his own", even though this had actually been Collip's key contribution. In 1972, an official history of the Nobel Committee declared that omitting Best might have been a mistake. In fact, Best was not considered because he was never nominated. Nomination for a Nobel Prize can only be made by certain individuals, including former recipients of the Prize, and his central role along with Banting was not known to those who had the ability to make nominations. Best was subsequently nominated for the 1950 Nobel Prize in physiology based on his work on choline and heparin. At the Centenary Celebration of the Nobel Prize for the Discovery of Insulin held by the Toronto Medical Society on November 27, 2023, Professor Erling Norrby, former chair of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, made a presentation - The Optimal Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine and presented the following information from the Nobel archives:

“Best was nominated 14 times 1950-1954. The main nominator was Henry Dale who had been supervisor for Best’s Ph.D. work. The discovery proposed to be awarded was Best’s work on the lipotropic effect of choline, but Dale argued that separately that Best should have shared the 1923 prize to Banting. Best was subject to four evaluations by Ulf von Euler who gave support to Dale’s nomination. Although Best was declared worthy of a prize (1951, 1952, 1954) he never received it.”

Professor of physiology

Best succeeded Macleod as professor of physiology at University of Toronto in 1929. During World War II he was influential in establishing a Canadian program for securing and using dried human blood serum. In his later years, he was an adviser to the Medical Research Committee of the United Nations World Health Organization

Personal life

Best later claimed that the greatest moment of his life occurred when he met his future wife, Margaret Mahon (1900–1988) following his return. His other son, Henry Best was a well-regarded historian who later became president of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario.

Best died on March 31, 1978, in Toronto. He is interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, not far from Sir Frederick Banting.

Awards and honours

thumb|The gravestone of Best (section 29) in [[Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto]]

Best was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1946. He was elected a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1948. He was elected to both the American Philosophical Society and the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1950. In 1967 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in recognition for "his contribution to medicine, particularly as co-discoverer of insulin." He was a commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire He was a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada, and was the first Canadian to be elected into the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. honorary degrees from universities around the world including

  • University of Chicago (D.Sc) in 1941
  • Université Sorbonne de Paris
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Oxford
  • University of Amsterdam 8 January 1947
  • University of Louvain
  • University of Liège
  • University of Chile
  • University of Uruguay
  • University of San Marcos
  • University of Melbourne (LL.D) in 1952
  • University of Edinburgh (LL.D) in 1959
  • Northwestern University (D.Sc) in 1959
  • Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki
  • Free University of Berlin
  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1972
  • University of Zagreb
  • University of Toronto (LL.D) in 1970.

See also

  • Nicolae Paulescu

References

Further reading

  • John Waller (2002) Fabulous Science: fact and fiction in the history of scientific discovery, Oxford. See Chapter 11: "Painting yourself into a corner; Charles Best and the discovery of insulin", page 223.
  • CBC Digital Archives. "Chasing a Cure for Diabetes". Accessed 16 June 2008.
  • Dr. Charles Best Secondary School. Accessed 16 June 2008.
  • Ontario Plaques, "The Discovery of Insulin". Accessed 16 June 2008.
  • University of Toronto. Banting and Best Department of Medical Research "Charles Herbert Best". Accessed 16 June 2008.
  • "Rewriting Medical History: Charles Best and the Banting and Best Myth by Michael BLiss". Accessed 23 July 2011.
  • Charles Best Papers (), Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.
  • Charles H. Best Foundation archival papers held at the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services