Best, Charles Herbert

Best, Charles Herbert, 1899–1978, Canadian physiologist, b. West Pembroke, Maine. With F. G. Banting he discovered (1921) the use of insulin in the treatment of diabetes. He was appointed professor of physiology at the Univ. of Toronto in 1929, served as associate director of the Connaught Laboratories from 1932 to 1941, and became director of the Banting and Best department of medical research at the Univ. of Toronto in 1941. With N. B. Taylor he wrote The Living Body (rev. ed. 1946), The Physiological Basis of Medical Practice (4th ed. 1946), and The Human Body and Its Functions (3d ed. 1956).