Découverte de l'insuline : quelle fut la contribution de Nicolae Constantin Paulescu (1869-1931) ?

Nicolae Paulescu (1869-1931) was a romanian physiologist, professor of medicine. He enrolled the medical school of Paris and worked until 1900 with Étienne Lancereaux, the father of the 'pancreatic' diabetes. Back in Romania, he obtained an active pancreatic extract in 1916, and published its hypoglycemic effects in 1921, a few months before Frederick G. Banting and the Toronto University team. The latter was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923. Paulescu wrote to the Nobel Prize Committee claiming his priority, without results. Several attempts to correct the 'historical error' and to give an official international recognition to Paulescu's work failed mainly because of his political national activism and antisemitic views.