Timeline: Avicenna, 980–1037 CE

Avicenna is considered by many to be the father of modern medicine, and from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, his name dominated the study of medicine in Europe.

Avicenna, also known as Ibn Sina, or Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina, was a Persian philosopher, scientist, and physician. He was born in the town of Kharmaithen (in modern Uzbekistan) and died in Hamadan (in modern Iran).

Avicenna is the author of more than 450 works in philosophy and medicine, of which approximately 240 survive. His most famous works are The Canon of Medicine and The Book of Healing. The Canon, which was translated into Latin in the 1100s, then reissued in Europe dozens of times over the next four centuries, contains chapters on physiology, pathology and hygiene, the methods of treating disease, and the composition and preparation of remedies.

The Canon gave Avicenna Western fame, and led to him being called the Prince of Physicians. His Book of Healing deals with logic, natural sciences, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, music, psychology (he was very interested in the effect of the mind on the body), and metaphysics.

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