Sydney Ringer

rightSydney Ringer FRS (March 1835 – 14 October 1910) was a British clinician, physiologist and pharmacologist, best known for inventing Ringer's solution. He was born in 1835 in Norwich, England and died following a stroke in 1910 in Lastingham, Yorkshire, England. His gravestone and some other records report 1835 for his birth, some census records and other documents suggest 1836, but his baptismal record at St Mary's Baptist Chapel (referred to in Ringer's own will) confirms this was 1835. A significant teacher was JS Brewer's son, the hugely successful author Revd Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer.

Before starting at medical school, Ringer worked for a year, from September 1853, at the Norfolk & Norwich hospital under the surgeon, B H Norgate (who had signed his father's death certificate).

For his university education, as a non-conformist, Ringer studied medicine at University College London from 1854 and graduated in 1860. During this time, Ringer trained at University College Hospital before starting his professional career there. By 1866, Ringer had been promoted to full physician. From 1865 to 1869, Ringer also served as Assistant Physician at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

During his academic career, Ringer became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1870 by DJ Miller was published by The Physiological Society, of which Ringer was an early member. A Blue Plaque to Ringer was unveiled at University College London in March 2022.