Abū ˓Alī al‐ḥusain ibn ˓Abdallāh ibn Sīnā (980–1037), also known as Avicenna, was born in the city of Būkhārā in the Eastern part of Persia into an Isma ˒ili family. He demonstrated an incredible genius for learning, and having mastered the Qu ˒ rān and the sciences of his time, became a physician at age 16. Ibn Sīnā gained favor with the Sāmānid dynasty for having cured Prince Nūḥ ibn Manṣūr and was thus allowed to use the royal library. He mastered other sciences such as psychology, astronomy, chemistry, and pharmacology by age 18, and toward the end of his life said he had learned everything he knew by then.
Ibn Sīnā lived in a tumultuous time when different princes were engaged in a power struggle, resulting in his traveling from city to city. He first went to Gorgān, an area close to the Caspian Sea, crossing the desert on foot, and after a while traveled to Khorāsān, Rayy, and Qazwīn, until he finally settled in Hamadān at the request of prince Shams al‐Dawlah. In 1022, following...
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Aminrazavi, M. (2008). Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna). In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9243
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