Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Born: 980 near Bukhara Uzbekistan

Died: 1037 (aged 57) Hamadan Iran

Also known as 'Avicenna', Ibn Sina was a true polymath with his contributions ranging from medicine, psychology and pharmacology to geology, physics, astronomy, chemistry and philosophy. He was also a poet, a Muslim scholar, and a theologian.

His most important contribution to medical science was his famous book Al Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine). The book is an encyclopedia of five large trees containing over a million words. It contains medical information found in ancient and Islamic sources. One of his major works is “The Book of Healing”, a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia.

early life

This great scientist was born about 980 A.D. in the village of Afshana, near Bukhara, now in Uzbekistan, his mother's hometown. His father, Abdullah, who was a spokesman for the Ismaili sect, came from Balkh and is now part of Afghanistan. Ibn Sina received his first education in his hometown and at the age of ten became a Quran Hafiz (he had memorized the Quran). He had a unique ability to understand that enabled him to surpass his teachers at the age of fourteen. Over the next few years, he devoted himself to the field of Islamic law, philosophy, and natural sciences and studied Ptolemy's theory, Euclid, and Almagest.

Ibn Sina was an extremist. As a young man, Ibn Sina was so confused by Aristotle's work of metaphysics that he would pray to God for guidance. Finally, after reading the booklet of the famous philosopher al-Farabi, he found solutions to his problems.

Contributions and Achievements

At the age of sixteen he devoted all his efforts to the study of medicine and at the age of eighteen he was promoted to the rank of physician. This time he cured Noah II, Emperor Samanid, of a disease in which all the famous doctors had given up hope. With this great effort, Amir wanted to reward him, and the young doctor asked permission to use the fully-fledged royal library.

At the death of his father, when Ibn Sina was twenty-two years old, he moved to Jurjan near the Caspian Sea where he taught psychology and astronomy. Here he met his famous Abu Rayhan al-Biruni of the time. He later went to Rey and then to Hamadan (both modern-day Iran), where he wrote and taught his work. Here he also cured Shams al-Dawla, the Emir of Hamadan, from a serious illness.

From Hamadan, he moved to Isfahan (now central Iran), where he completed his epic writing. However, he continued to walk and the excessive mental exertion and political turmoil affected his life. For the last ten years of his life, he has served in the ranks of military commander Ala al-Dawla Muhammad. He worked as a physician and general literature and science consultant, including in his campaigns. He died in June 1037 A.D., aged 58 and was buried in Mohammedan, Iran.

works

Avicenna's most important contribution to medical science was his famous book Al Qanun Fi Al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine), known as “Canon” in the West. The book was a huge encyclopedia of five trees covering more than a million words. It contained medical information found in ancient and Islamic sources. The book was translated into Latin in the twelfth century and was used as a standard medical text in European universities until the middle of the seventeenth century.

One of his major works was "The Book of Healing", a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia. The book was intended to ‘heal’ the soul. It was divided into four sections: logic, natural science, mathematics, and metaphysics. In his book, he introduces his conceptual framework, Avicennian logic. In astronomy, he suggested that Venus was closer to the Sun than the Earth. He invented the star-checking instrument. He made several astronomical observations and said that the stars were illuminating themselves. In mathematics, Avicenna explained the concept of the use and use of "casting out of nines". Ibn Sina also contributed to poetry, religion and music. In all, Avicenna wrote more than 400 works, of which about 240 survived.