ABSTRACT
Banting is credited with having discovered insulin, one of the great scientific and humanitarian achievements of the twentieth century.
Early Life Frederick Grant Banting was born on his parents' farm in Alliston, Ontario, and was of Irish-Scottish extraction. The youngest of five children, Frederick enjoyed the advantages of a boyhood in the country and developed an affection for animals and close ties to nature. At local schools he was considered to be a serious but otherwise undistinguished student, although his hardy upbringing did result in his excelling at sports and his tendency toward pugnacity was a particular asset on the athletic field. An important event in his early childhood was seeing Jane, a childhood friend, die of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. Although, largely because of his father's encouragement, he had considered becoming a minister, he quickly realized that medicine was his true calling, and he entered the University of Toronto Medical School in 1912.
