London: where insulin was discovered

In rural southwestern Ontario, London holds the small house where Frederick Banting had the decisive idea that led to the discovery of insulin.

The downtown, where insulin was discovered in 1921, is comfortably walkable.

The Banting House, designated as a Canadian national historic site, preserves the room where in 1920 Frederick Banting had the insight that led to the discovery of insulin.

A few minutes away, the Museum London, overlooking the confluence of the two branches of the Canadian Thames River, displays regional art and rich historical collections of southern Ontario.

Continuing towards the centre, visit the Fanshawe Pioneer Village, a faithful and detailed recreation of an entire rural Ontario settlement from the nineteenth century.

Towards evening, the Richmond Row neighbourhood comes alive with vibrant restaurants and bars in the heart of the lively university town.

Frederick Banting, awakened in the depths of a sleepless night in 1920 by a decisive insight, wrote the notes that led to the discovery of insulin in the very room now preserved at Banting House.

Banting's discovery of insulin, which earned him the Nobel Prize in 1923, remains one of the most important medical breakthroughs of the entire twentieth century, born in this Canadian city that shares the name of the far more famous British capital.