The widespread use of insulin can be credited with saving and prolonging the lives of people with diabetes for nearly a century. However, long before insulin's role in glucose management was realized, the mystery of the pancreas first had to be solved. In 1869, a German medical student by the name of Paul Langerhans noted that deceased patients with diabetes often had damaged pancreases. He identified clusters of cells within these organs that would later be shown to play a vital role in the production of insulin- the beta cells.