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Canadian Nobel Winners

© David Newman

This week I will talk about part of Canada's Contribution to the world through the Nobel Prize Laureates who were born or who lived (or is still living) in Canada.

1923 Medicine Laureates: Sir Frederick Grant Banting and Dr John James Richard Macleod for the discovery of Insulin The first Canadian (Although earlier a British man born in New Zealand, Lord Ernest Rutherford, taught a few years in Canada won a Nobel Prize) were Dr Sir Frederick Grant Banting and John James Macleod who both discovered insulin. Sir Frederick Banting was born in Alliston (Ontario), November 14th 1891. He studied medicine at the University of Toronto and got his M.B degree. He served in the World war in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. He was a surgeon at Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto before teaching in orthopaedics at Western (University of Western Ontario) and lecturer at the University of Toronto. He was really interested in Diabetes and was trying to find a way to isolate and use the insulin to see if it would cure Diabetes. Dr. John James Macleod, a Scottish-born (born September 6, 1876 in Perthshire) professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto since 1919. He was Director of the Physiological Laboratory and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and gave Banting facilities for experimentation. Charles Best, a medicine student was appointed assistant to Banting. After many tests on Dogs, Banting and Best isolated insulin and purified it for human use. Frederick Banting shared his Nobel with Charles Best. John Macleod shared his with James Collip another person who helped in the discovery of insulin.

1949 Chemistry Laureate: William Francis Giauge for his contributions in the field of chemical thermodynamics, particularly concerning the behaviour of substances at extremely low temperatures This laureate is considered American since his parents were both American and his work was for the University of California in Berkeley. The only thing that makes him partly Canadian is his birth in Niagara Falls, Ontario on May 12, 1895 and his secondary education in Niagara Falls. He went to the University of California. He received his Chemistry Ph.D. in 1922 and became a Professor of Chemistry in 1934. He was very interested in the third law of thermodynamics because of experimental work for his Ph.D. He did many experiments and contributed in the field of chemical thermodynamics, particularly concerning the behaviour of substances at extremely low temperatures. He died in 1982.

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