Francis Arthur Bainbridge

Francis Arthur Bainbridge (July 29, 1874 - October 27, 1921) was an English physiologist who was a native of Stockton-on-Tees. In 1904 he earned his doctorate in Cambridge, and in 1911 became a professor of physiology at Durham University. In 1915 he attained the chair of physiology at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he remained for the rest of his life.

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Bainbridge is best remembered for showing that an increase in pressure on the venous side of the heart resulted in an increased heart rate due to denervation of vagal influences to the heart. The eponymous Bainbridge reflex is named after him, which is an increased heart rate due to an increase of the right atrial pressure. Bainbridge's findings contradicted Marey's Law, which stated that an increase in blood pressure caused a lowering of the heart rate. Marey's Law was devised in 1861 by French physiologist Étienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904).

Bainbridge also made important contributions regarding the study of the mechanism of lymph formation, and filtration properties of the glomeruli in the kidneys. His most popular publications were Essentials of Physiology (1914) and Physiology of Muscular Exercise (1919).