Ibn Sina Completes the Canon of Medicine

Persian polymath Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980–1037 CE) completed his Canon of Medicine in Hamadan in 1025, a five-volume encyclopedia synthesizing Greek, Persian, Indian, and Chinese medical knowledge alongside his own clinical observations. Over one million words, it covered anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and 700 drug preparations, and described the contagious nature of tuberculosis. Translated into Latin in 12th-century Toledo, it became the standard medical textbook in European universities — used at Montpellier until 1650 and Padua until 1674 — bridging ancient medical traditions and the later Scientific Revolution.