One hundred years after the discovery of insulin, J.J.R. Macleod’s life-changing legacy is still largely unknown. That should soon change, thanks to a new statue in Aberdeen’s Duthie Park.
Professor John Macleod, a renowned physiologist educated in Aberdeen, led a University of Toronto team to develop the world’s first clinically useful insulin in 1922. Astonishingly, Macleod’s key role in this medical breakthrough has been almost entirely overlooked or forgotten; instead, most history books wrongly attribute the discovery of this “miracle treatment” only to Frederick Banting and Charles Best, who are widely celebrated in Canada to this day.
“Air-brushed from history”
This distorted version of reality is a great source of frustration for John Otto, an Aberdeen resident diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes nearly 50 years ago. After learning that Macleod was essentially “air brushed from history” – even here in the Granite City – John was inspired to commission a worthy tribute to the man responsible for saving his life and hundreds of millions of others.
John founded the JJR Macleod Memorial Statue Society to raise funding for a bronze and granite memorial that will be situated in Aberdeen’s Duthie Park. The memorial will be unveiled this autumn to mark the 100th anniversary of Macleod’s 1923 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology. It’s hoped that the memorial will celebrate Macleod’s legacy as well as raise awareness about Type 1 diabetes, a condition that usually presents in younger people, who then remain insulin dependent for life.
A life-size bronze statue of Macleod seated upon a bronze Royal Parks bench is currently underway in the Ayrshire studio of acclaimed sculptor John McKenna.
Another first for Aberdeen
The Macleod Memorial will also feature a “Statue Story”, the first of its kind in Scotland. After visitors scan a QR code, an app will “call” their mobile and play a brief recording of an actor’s voice speaking as the statue. Aberdeen-born stage and television actor David Rintoul (Game of Thrones, The Crown, Dr Finlay) recorded Macleod’s voice in a genuine local accent.
The project is now halfway towards its fundraising target with the help of sponsorships and in-kind donations from individuals and businesses. Sponsorship packages above a certain level include an engraved paver on the memorial’s granite terrace. There will also be a Type 1 community paver collectively funded by people directly impacted by diabetes, inscribed, “With heartfelt gratitude from all who owe their lives to insulin.”
Click here for a digital sponsorship brochure.
More details at www.jjrmacleodmemorial.co.uk.