Ancient anatomists knew about the pancreas. Not only did we butcher animals long before we had writing, but humans were also studied after death. Still, they didn't know what the organ was for- maybe it was just padding between other organs. German anatomist Johann Wirsung made a discovery about the inner workings of the pancreas, and he was shot and killed for his efforts!
But that was not the last of the violence involving research on the pancreas. As medical science advanced, we learned that the pancreas secreted digestive fluids that contained insulin, necessary for regulating carbohydrates in the body. Could we make insulin ourselves to help people with diabetes? Yes, but it would take a team of great minds to accomplish that, and those minds did not get along with each other. Over hundreds of years, scientists studying the pancreas fought over who would get credit for medical breakthroughs, leaving the pancreas with a soap opera of human egos surrounding it.
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