Physician · 980 – 1037

Avicenna

Little-Known Facts

  • He is said to have memorized the Quran by age ten and mastered medicine in his teens.
  • Avicenna wrote that he reread Aristotle's Metaphysics forty times before a commentary unlocked its meaning for him.

Myths & Misconceptions

Was Avicenna only a physician?

No. Though famous for medicine, Avicenna was a true polymath who made major contributions to philosophy, logic, metaphysics, astronomy and the natural sciences.