Avicenna

c. 980 – 1037 · died at about 57^[1][2]

Science & Invention

Fun Facts About Avicenna

• Avicenna, in one anecdote, cured a prince who believed he was a cow: posing as a butcher, he declared the "cow" too lean to slaughter until it was fed properly.^[1]
• Avicenna had memorized the entire Quran by age 10 and was made a physician to the ruler Nuh II at 17.^[1]
• Avicenna wrote his famous "floating man" thought experiment about self-awareness while imprisoned in a castle near Hamadan.^[1]
• In The Canon of Medicine, Avicenna proposed that invisible tainted organisms were linked to disease and recommended isolating the sick.^[1]
• Avicenna's Canon of Medicine remained a standard text at European universities and was still in use as late as 1650.^[1]
• Dante placed Avicenna in Limbo in the Divine Comedy, alongside virtuous non-Christian thinkers such as Socrates, Plato, and Saladin.^{[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}
• Avicenna was alive at the same time as Murasaki Shikibu — their lives overlapped for about 34 years (c. 980–c. 1014).^{[1][2][11][12]}
• Avicenna lived to about 57, from c. 980 until 1037.^[1][2]

Ibn Sina, commonly known in the West as Avicenna, was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world. He was a seminal figure of the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian rulers, and was influential to medieval European medical and Scholastic thought.^[1]

Contemporaries

Murasaki Shikibu

34 yr overlap

William the Conqueror

9 yr overlap

Shen Kuo

6 yr overlap

Questions About Avicenna

When was Avicenna born?

Avicenna was born about 980 and died in 1037.

How old was Avicenna at death?

Avicenna died in 1037 at about 57 years old (c. 980–1037).

What was Avicenna known for?

Avicenna was known for: Father of early modern medicine. Ibn Sina, commonly known in the West as Avicenna, was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world. He was a seminal figure of the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian rulers, and was influential to medieval European medical and Scholastic thought.

Who was alive at the same time as Avicenna?

Avicenna's closest contemporary was Murasaki Shikibu. Their lives overlapped for 34 years.