# Ibn Sina (Avicenna): the Canon of Medicine

> A polymath born near Bukhara in 980 CE whose Canon of Medicine was the standard medical textbook in Europe and the Islamic world for 600 years.

**Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn Sina** (c. 980–1037), Latinised as **Avicenna**, was born in Afshana near Bukhara.

Key works:

- **Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb** (The Canon of Medicine, 1025) — a 5-volume medical encyclopedia covering anatomy, pharmacology, surgery, and general medicine. It was translated into Latin in the 12th century and remained the primary medical text at European universities (including Montpellier and Bologna) until the 17th century.
- **Kitab al-Shifa** (The Book of Healing) — an encyclopaedia of philosophy, logic, mathematics, music, astronomy and natural science.
- Over 450 works survive (of ~270 attributed).

Medical innovations:
- First systematic description of contagion: recognised that tuberculosis was communicable.
- Quarantine concept: recommended isolating patients with infectious disease for 40 days.
- Clinical trials: outlined a method for testing drug efficacy (crude forerunner of controlled trials).
- Detailed anatomy of the eye and nervous system.

He lived a turbulent political life — serving as vizier to multiple Persian rulers, imprisoned twice, fleeing multiple cities — and died at age 56 in Hamadan (modern Iran).

In Bukhara the **Ibn Sina Museum** near the Ark contains manuscripts and displays about his life. His birthplace near Afshana (20 km from Bukhara) has a small memorial complex.

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Keywords: Ibn Sina, Avicenna, medicine, Bukhara, Canon, scholar
Updated: 2026-08-15
Category: history
URL: https://uzbguidedtours.com/kb/kb-history-ibn-sina-avicenna