The Discovery of Insulin: Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition

The Discovery of Insulin: Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition

When insulin was discovered in the early 1920s, even jaded professionals marveled at how it brought starved, sometimes comatose diabetics back to life. In the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of a classic, Michael Bliss unearths scientists' memoirs and confidential appraisals of insulin by members of the Nobel Committee. he also resolves a longstanding controversy about scientific collaboration at its most fractious and fascinating: who ultimately deserves credit for the discovery? Bliss's life-and-death saga illuminates one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of medicine. The story of insulin's discovery out to be a novel...but Michael Bliss's splendid account is just as absorbing as any fiction. ― I S I S Using previously unpublished, suppressed, or privately circulated documents, Bliss sets forth the full story of the epochal discovery.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...The book has moments of pure delight. -- Peter H. Desmond ― Washington Post The new, twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of The Discovery of Insulin kept me...riveted with Michael Bliss's documentation, chock-full of jealousy, pride, and intrigue. [This book] is a must read for all of those whose lives have been touched by diabetes. -- Lois Jovanovic, MD, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer ― Sansum Diabetes Research Institute Few events in modern medical history were as dramatic as the discovery of insulin, and fewer still are the books that have captured a medical breakthrough as brilliantly as Michael Bliss's classic account. Today, when the expectations of post-genomic medicine have reached new heights, the timing for a twenty-fifth-anniversary edition could not be better. -- David Naylor, MD, President and Former Dean of Medicine ― University of Toronto Bliss provides a breathtaking account of what it really means to be on the cutting edge of scientific discovery. -- James Shapiro, MD, Director of the Clinical Islet Translplant Program ― University of Alberta Michael Bliss (1941–2017) was an award-winning historian, a recipient of the Order of Canada, and an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. His books include  Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery , The Making of Modern Medicine: Turning Points in the Treatment of Disease , and William Osler: A Life in Medicine .