Ibn Sina
Name: Ibn Sina, Ibn Sina al-Haqq
Born: Bukhara
Died: Emirates
Full name: Abu Ali Abdullah Sharaf al-Mulk Hujjat
al-Sheikh al-Rais Bu Ali Sina
Born: 980 CE, Afshana, Peshkunsky, Samanid
Empire
Died: June 1037 (age 56–57), Hamadan,
Kakuyid
Era: Islamic Golden Age, Samanid Empire,
Ziyarid Tabaristan
Field: Medicine
Main interests: Aromatherapy, philosophy and logic, Kalam
[Islamic theology], science, poetry
Major works: _The Book of Healing_, _The Canon of
Medicine_
Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdullah
ibn Sina
When a drug is introduced to the
market today, it has to pass many clinical trials to prove it actually cures a
disease. But long ago, doctors prescribed medicines based on hearsay or even
imagination. So who changed all that? The father of modern medicine, Ibn Sina,
lived in Persia from 980 CE to 1037 CE. He wrote nearly a hundred books in his
lifetime.
_The Canon of Medicine_ is the
most famous of them, running into fourteen volumes. It describes the organs of
the body, various types of diseases, methods to prevent the spread of diseases,
and the use of simple and compound drugs. This comprehensive book remained the
most important medical text in Europe and the Arab world until the 18th
century.
The book laid out principles
for testing a new drug:
1. It must be pure.
2. You must know exactly when it works, like morning or night.
He was also considered a great
poet. Avicennism, as European scholars call his philosophy, emphasizes that
knowledge comes from observation and experiment, and it rejects magic and
miracles.
Life of Ibn Sina
He was born in 980 in Afshana,
a town that is now in Uzbekistan. At age 10 he went to school in the great city
of Bukhara. By fourteen, he had learned everything that could be learned there.
His curiosity pushed him to gain knowledge outside school. He learned Indian
mathematics from a grocer and practical medicine from a wandering
physician.
By eighteen he was a qualified physician
himself. His skill proved vital in 997 when the Emir of Bukhara became
dangerously ill. But later, war and politics made his life very turbulent. When
the ruling dynasty of Bukhara fell in 1007, Ibn Sina had to flee. After
wandering for a long time, he settled in Ray in Persia, where he wrote thirty
of his books. Later he went to Hamadan, where he served as vizier and physician
to the emir there.
Rationalist and Polymath
Ibn Sina was a scholar of many
sciences. He wrote _The Book of Healing_, which set out many principles of
physics and geology. He wrote that mountains are formed by folds in the earth’s
crust, like the Himalayas, not by divine magic. For this he is also called the
father of geology.
He wrote four books refuting
alchemy, following Ibn Hayyan and al-Kindi. He also invented the refrigerated
coil, which is important for distillation.
He wrote books on philosophy,
psychology, engineering, astronomy, and theology. He is also regarded as a
great poet.
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