The Discovery of Insulin - Softcover

"Using previously unpublished, suppressed, or privately circulated documents, Bliss sets forth the full story of the epochal discovery. It is a tale of frustration, tension, and acute personal rivalry.... But the book has moments of pure delight.... Thoroughly researched and well written, The Discovery of Insulin deserves a place on the bookshelf along-side such eye-openers as James Watson's The Double Helix and Nicholas Wade's The Nobel Duel." - Washington Post "The definitive history... well written, highly readable." - London Review of Books "The story of insulin's discovery ought to be a novel... but Michael Bliss's splendid account is just as absorbing as any fiction." - Isis "Bliss's excellent account of the insulin story is a rare dissection of the anatomy of scientific discovery, and serves as a model of how rigorous historical method can correct the myths and legends sometimes perpetrated in the scientific literature." - New Republic "Scrupulously researched and compellingly readable... I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone with an interest in diabetes, medical history, or medical scandal and gossip." - British Medical Journal"

When insulin was discovered in the early 1920s, even jaded professionals marveled at how it brought starved, sometimes comatose diabetics back to life. In this now-classic history, Michael Bliss unearths a wealth of material, ranging from the unpublished memoirs of scientists to the confidential appraisals of insulin by members of the Nobel Committee. He also resolves a long-standing controversy that dates back to the awarding of the Nobel to F. G. Banting and J. J. R. Macleod for their work on insulin: because each insisted on sharing the prize with an additional associate, medical opinion was intensely divided over the allotment of credit for the discovery. Bliss also offers a wealth of new detail on such subjects as the treatment of diabetes before insulin and the life-and-death struggle to manufacture it.