Insulin: A Hundred-Year History

In 1922, an unlikely team of researchers in Toronto made one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the century: insulin. Their discovery seemed miraculous. When it was given to diabetic patients on the brink of death, their condition rapidly improved. Those present could barely believe their eyes: they had witnessed resurrection.

However, this was no simple cure. Injections must be taken for life. Without them, symptoms quickly return, often with fatal results. But while a lifetime...