Ernest Henry Starling (1866-1927): the scientist and the man

Abstract

The pre-eminent achievements of the English physician and physiologist Ernest Henry Starling were his quantitative explanation of the transcapillary transport of fluid, the discovery of the first hormone, secretin, and his formulation of the law of the heart. In some ways Starling was an outsider and he was the centre of several scientific and social controversies. However, throughout his life he stressed fundamental scientific attitudes and ideas with remarkable persistence and power, although also balance, and his scientific achievements have stood the test of time.