Professor Sydney Ringer was an outstanding physiologist whose fundamental insights are built into the foundations of physiology. Ringer was a British clinician, who worked at University College London, UK, and its hospital from 1860 to 1900. During this time, he was also Assistant Physician at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.

Ringer’s pioneering research of the 1880s still underlies modern physiology and pharmacology. In 1883, Ringer invented the composition for a saline solution (a mixture of salt and water) that could maintain the beat of the frog’s heart. This saline recipe is referred to as ‘Ringer’s solution’ and it is now commonly used in the intravenous fluid drips in hospital wards and surgical theatres providing life-saving fluid replacement for patients. Ringer was one of the earliest members of The Physiological Society, joining in 1884.

A Brief Biography of Sydney Ringer by David Miller