Frederick Banting Sir Frederick Grant Banting , KBE , MC , FRS , FRSC ( November 14 , 1891February 21 , 1941 ) was a Canadian medical scientist , doctor , painter and Nobel laureate noted as the primary discoverer of insulin . In 1923 Banting and John James Rickard Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine . Banting shared the award money with his colleague , Dr . Charles Best . , Banting , who received the Nobel Prize at age 32 , remains the youngest Nobel laureate in the area of Physiology / Medicine . The Canadian government gave him a lifetime annuity to work on his research . In 1934 he was knighted by King George V . In 2004 , Frederick Banting was voted fourth place on The Greatest Canadian . Early years . Frederick Banting was born on November 14 , 1891 , in a farm house near Alliston , Ontario . The youngest of five children ( Nelson , Thompson , Kenneth and Essie ) of William Thompson Banting and Margaret Grant , he attended public and high schools in Alliston . He attempted to enter the army but was refused due to poor eyesight . He then attended the University of Toronto in the faculty of divinity but soon transferred to medicine . He received his M . B . degree in 1916 and enlisted in the Canadian Army Medical Corps , which had a need for medics in World War I . He was wounded at the battle of Cambrai in 1918 . Despite his injuries , he helped other wounded men for sixteen hours , until another doctor told him to stop . He was awarded the Military Cross in 1919 , for heroism . Banting returned to Canada after the war and briefly took up general practice in London , Ontario . Returning to Toronto , he studied orthopaedic medicine and , in 1919 – 1920 , was Resident Surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children . From 1920 – 21 , he continued his general practice , while teaching orthopedics and anthropology part - time at the University of Western Ontario in London . From 1921 – 22 he lectured in pharmacology at the University of Toronto , receiving his M . D . degree in 1922 , along with a gold medal . Scientific studies . An article he read about the pancreas piqued Banting ' s interest in diabetes . Research by Naunyn , Minkowski , Opie , Schafer , and others suggested that diabetes resulted from a lack of a protein hormone secreted by the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas . Schafer had named this hormone insulin . Insulin was thought to control the metabolism of sugar ; its lack led to an increase of sugar in the blood which was then excreted in urine . Attempts to extract insulin from ground - up pancreas cells were unsuccessful , likely because of the destruction of the insulin by the proteolysis enzyme of the pancreas . The challenge was to find a way to extract insulin from the pancreas prior to its being destroyed . Moses Barron published an article on experimental closure of the pancreatic duct by ligature which further influenced Banting ' s thinking . The procedure caused deterioration of the cells of the pancreas that secrete trypsin but left the islets of Langerhans intact . Banting realized that this procedure would destroy the trypsin - secreting cells but not the insulin . Once the trypsin - secreting cells had died , insulin could be extracted from the islets of Langerhans . Banting discussed this approach with J . J . R . Macleod , Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto . Macleod provided experimental facilities and the assistance of one of his students , Dr . Charles Best . Banting and Best began the production of insulin by this means . Banting was appointed Senior Demonstrator in Medicine at the University of Toronto in 1922 . The following year he was elected to the new Banting and Best Chair of Medical Research , endowed by the Legislature of the Province of Ontario . He also served as Honorary Consulting Physician to the Toronto General , the Hospital for Sick Children , and the Toronto Western Hospital . At the Banting and Best Institute , he researched silicosis , cancer , and the mechanisms of drowning . During the Second World War he investigated the problems of aviators , such as " blackout " ( syncope ) . Personal life . Banting developed an interest in painting beginning around 1921 while he was in London , Ontario . He became friends with Group of Seven artists A . Y . Jackson and Lawren Harris , sharing their love of the rugged Canadian landscape . In 1927 he made a sketching trip with Jackson to the St . Lawrence in Quebec . Later that year they traveled to RCMP outposts in the Arctic on the Canadian Government supply ship Beothic . The sketches , done both in oils on birch panels and in pen and ink , were named after the places he visited : Craig Harbour , Ellesmere Island ; Pond Inlet , Baylot Island ; Eskimo tents at Etach ; others were untitled . Jackson and Banting also made painting expeditions to Great Slave Lake , Walsh Lake ( Northwest Territories ) , Georgian Bay , French River and the Sudbury District . Banting married twice . His first marriage was to Marion Robertson in 1924 ; they had one child , William ( b . 1928 ) . They divorced in 1932 and Banting married Henrietta Ball in 1937 . In 1938 , Banting ' s interest in aviation medicine resulted in his participation with the Royal Canadian Air Force ( RCAF ) in research concerning the physiological problems encountered by pilots operating high - altitude combat aircraft . Banting headed the RCAF ' s Number 1 Clinical Investigation Unit ( CIU ) , which was housed in a secret facility on the grounds of the former Eglinton Hunt Club in Toronto . In February 1941 , Banting died of wounds and exposure following a Lockheed L - 14 Super Electra / Hudson crash in Musgrave harbourNewfoundland . He was en route to England to conduct operational tests on the Franks flying suit developed by his colleague Wilbur Franks . Banting and his wife are buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto . Legacy . Banting ' s name is immortalised in the yearly Banting Lectures , given by an expert in diabetes , and by the creation of the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research of the University of Toronto ; Banting Memorial High School in Alliston , ON ; Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School in London , ON ; Sir Frederick Banting Alternative Program Site in Ottawa , ON ; Frederick Banting Elementary School in Montreal - Nord QC and École Banting Middle School in Coquitlam , BC . Banting House , his house in London , Ontario , was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1997 . The Banting Interpretation Centre in Musgrave Harbour , Newfoundland and Labrador is a museum named after him which focuses on the circumstances surrounding the 1941 plane crash which claimed his life . The crater Banting on the Moon is also named after his brother . In 1994 Banting was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame . In 2004 , he was nominated as one of the top 10 " Greatest Canadians " by viewers of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . When the final votes were counted , Banting finished fourth behind Tommy Douglas , Terry Fox and Pierre Trudeau . During the voting for " Greatest Canadians " in late 2003 , controversy rose over the future use of the Banting family farm in New Tecumseth which had been left to the Ontario Historical Society by Banting ' s late nephew , Edward , in 1998 . The dispute centred around the future use of the 40 ha ( 100 acre ) property and its buildings . In a year - long negotiation , assisted by a provincially - appointed facilitator , the Town of New Tecumseth offered $ 1 million to the Ontario Historical Society ( OHS ) . The town intended to turn the property over to the Sir Frederick Banting Legacy Foundation for preservation of the property and buildings , and the Legacy Foundation planned to erect a Camp for Diabetic Youths . The day after the November 22 , 2006 deadline for the OHS to sign the agreement , the OHS announced that it had sold the property for housing development to Solmar Development for more than $ 2 million . The Town of New Tecumseth announced it would designate the property under the Ontario Heritage Act . This would prevent its commercial development and obligate the owner to maintain it properly . OHS objected . The Ontario Conservation Review Board heard arguments for and against designation in September , 2007 and recommended designation of the entire property in October . The Town officially passed the designation by - law on November 12 , 2007 . In January , 2007 , insulin was named first in a cross - Canada survey by the CBC to identify the 10 Greatest Canadian Inventions . A painting of his called " St . Tîte des Cap " sold for CDN $ 30 , 000 including buyer ' s premium at a Canadian Art auction in Toronto . The 1988 television movie " Glory Enough for All " depicted the search for insulin by Banting and Best , with R . H . Thomson starring as Banting . Banting is also portrayed by Jason Priestley boarding his fatal flight in the 2006 historical drama " Above and Beyond " . The " Major Sir Frederick Banting , MC , RCAMC Award for Military Health Research " , sponsored by the True Patriot Love Foundation , is awarded annually by the Surgeon General to the researcher whose work presented at the annual Military and Veterans Health Research Forum is deemed to contribute most to military health . It was first awarded in 2011 in the presence of several Banting descendants . The " Canadian Forces Major Sir Frederick Banting Term Chair in Military Trauma Research " at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre was established in 2012 . The first Chair holder is Colonel Homer Tien , Medical Director of Sunnybrook ' s Tory Regional Trauma Centre and Senior Specialist and Trauma Adviser to the Surgeon General . The Government of Canada administers the " Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Program " , one of the most prestigious early - career academic awards in the world . Awards and honours . Prior to the award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1923 — which he shared with Macleod — he received the Reeve Prize of the University of Toronto ( 1922 ) . In 1923 , the Canadian Parliament granted him a Life Annuity of $ 7 , 500 . In 1928 Banting gave the Cameron Lecture in Edinburgh . He was a member of numerous medical academies and societies in Canada and abroad , including the British and American Physiological Societies , and the American Pharmacological Society . In 1934 he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( KBE ) and became an active Vice - President of the Diabetic Association ( now Diabetes UK ) . In May , 1935 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society . Flame of Hope . A " flame of hope " was lit in 1989 as a tribute to Dr . Frederick Banting and all the people that have lost their lives to diabetes . The flame will remain lit until there is a cure for diabetes . The flame is located at Sir Fredrick Banting Square in London , Ontario , Canada . Honorary degrees . Sir Frederick Banting received honorary degrees from several Universities :