This episode of The Conversation’s In Depth Out Loud podcast tells the story of the monstrous egos and toxic rivalries behind the discovery of insulin.
You can read the text version of this in-depth article here. The audio version is read by Martin Buchanan in partnership with Noa, News Over Audio. Listen to more articles from The Conversation, for free, on the Noa app.
Kersten Hall, author and honorary fellow at the school of philosophy, religion and history of science at the University of Leeds, recounts a tale that at times resembles Game of Thrones in lab coats, with pipettes rather than poisoned daggers.
The music in In Depth Out Loud is Night Caves, by Lee Rosevere. In Depth Out Loud is produced by Gemma Ware.
This story came out of a project at The Conversation called Insights, which is supported by Research England. You can read more stories in the series here.
Kersten’s new book ‘Insulin – the Crooked Timber: A History from Thick Brown Muck to Wall Street Gold’ will be published by Oxford University Press on 13th January 2022 and is available to pre-order. www.kerstenhall.com