Descriptions of conditions that seem to be diabetes have been found in ancient Egypt, Greece, China and India. However, our modern understanding of type 1 diabetes as an autoimmune disease developed in the 20th century.
In 1889, German doctors Joseph von Mering and Oskar Minkowski discovered the role the pancreas caused in the condition.
In 1921, Canadian doctors Frederick G Banting, Charles H Best and JJR Macleod discovered insulin.
Autoimmunity was discovered in the 1950s, and in 1955 British doctor Philip Hugh-Jones coined the terms "type 1" and "type 2" diabetes. These terms were popularised in 1976 by English medical researcher Andrew Cudworth, who discovered a link between type 1 diabetes and a specific genetic marker.