Google users in the UK might have been surprised to have been greeted by Ibn Sina as they went about their searching this morning.
But Avicenna, as he is often known in the west, made significant contributions in a range of topics: from medicine to astronomy. And each of them flowed over, out of Persia and the Islamic Golden Age and into our modern day understanding of the world.
The geographical distribution of the doodle is a little strange: it appears in the UK, but none of the countries near it, and Google's map of where the doodle is showing only sometimes appears to include Britain. On the other hand, it does not appear in Iran – the area where Ibn Sina lived for most of his life Google doesn't offer its search engine – or in Uzbekistan, the place where he was born.
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between the West Indies and England with a doodle Google 78/101 William Morris Google celebrates William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google 79/101 St Patrick's Day 2016 Googlle celebrates St Patrick's Day on 17 March 80/101 Caroline Herschel Google marks Caroline Herschel's 266th birthday Google 81/101 Clara Rockmore Google celebrates Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday 82/101 International Women's Day 2016 #OneDayIWill video marks International Woman's Day on 8 March 83/101 St David's Day 2016 Google marks St David's Day Google 84/101 Leap Year 2016 Google celebrates Leap Day on 28 February 2 Google 85/101 Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google 86/101 Stethoscope Inventor, René Laennec Google celebrate's René Laennec's 235th birthday 87/101 Valentine's Day 2016 Google celebrates Valentine's Day with a romantic Doodle 88/101 Dmitri Mendeleev Google celebrate Dmitri Mendeleev's 182nd birthday 89/101 "The televisor" demonstartion Google Doodle celebrates 90 years since the first demonstration of television or "the televisor" to the public 90/101 Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scoville’s 151st birthday 91/101 Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday 92/101 Charles Perrault Google celebrates author Charles Perrault's 388th birthday 93/101 Mountain of Butterflies discovery Google celebrates the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies 94/101 Winter Solstice 2015 Google celebrate the Winter Solstice 95/101 St Andrew's Day 2015 Google marks St Andrew's Day with doodle featuring Scotland's flag and Loch Ness monster 96/101 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago 97/101 George Boole Google marks George Boole's 200th birthday 98/101 Halloween 2015 Google celebrates Halloween using an interactive doodle game "Global Candy Cup" 99/101 Prague Astronomical Clock Google celebrates the 605th anniversary of the Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest functioning timepieces in the world 100/101 Autumnal Equinox 2015 Google marks the autumnal equinox on 23 September 101/101 International Women's Day 2018 Google marks IWD with a doodle featuring a dozen female artists from 12 different countries
For the most part, the doodle appears to have be meant for north Africa and the Middle East. (It can't be seen in Iran, the country that claims him as its own, because Google doesn't operate its search engine there as a result of US sanctions.)
But while Ibn Sina was born 1000 years ago in present-day Uzbekistan, he was a man of the world. He learnt arithmetic from an Indian grocer, and he would go on to live in Persia.
And Ibn Sina was working at time when there was continuous, fruitful exchange between the West and the Islamic world. He undertook intense study of Aristotle’s Metaphysics during his teens, for instance, and the influence would be seen across his work.
His research would go on to have a similarly wide reach. His most famous work of the more than 450 he wrote, known as The Canon of Medicine, was a key text in European medical courses hundreds of years after he had died, until the 18th century, and its influence continues to spread today.
In fact, many credit both that book and Ibn Sina's work generally with the beginnings of what would become medicine as it practised in the west today.
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Today’s Google Doodle celebrates what would have been the 1038th birthday of Ibn Sina.
Ibn Sina, who was born in the year 980, is often described as one of the pre-modern world’s most influential philosophers.
Also known as Avicenna, Ibn Sina authored over 130 books - the most influential of which is the monumental Al Qanun fil-Tibb, ‘The Canon of Medicine.’
Here’s everything you need to know about Ibn Sina, and why Google is celebrating him today.
Who is Ibn Sina?
Ibn Sina was born in the year 980, during what’s now known as the Islamic Golden Age.
He grew up in Afšana, a village near Bukhara, near present-day Uzbekistan .
A self-taught polymath, Ibn Sina learned Indian arithmetic from an Indian grocer.
He continued to pursue learning throughout his life, undertaking an intense study of Aristotle’s Metaphysics when he was in his teens, and studying medicine from the age of 16 (reportedly finding this subject “easy”).
Why is he also called Avicenna?
Sina is better known in Europe by the name Avicenna.
This is the Latin version of the name Ibn Sina.
What is Avicenna best known for?
A writer in a wide range of fields, Ibn Sina authored 131 books, the most influential of which is the monumental Al Qanun fil-Tibb, ‘The Canon of Medicine.’
This pioneering study was translated into Latin in the 12th century, and became the predominant text used in European medical courses until the 17th century.
The first work to identify contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, to hypothesise that soil and water spread sickness, and to set forth the basics of anatomy, paediatrics, and gynaecology, the ‘Canon’ is now credited as forming the basis of Western medicine.
How did Ibn Sina die?
During military campaigns, Ibn Sina was expected to accompany his patron and many of his works were composed on such campaigns.
However, it was on one such military campaign in the year 1037 that he took ill with colic and, despite attempting to apply his medical skills to himself, died.
Why is Ibn Sina important?
Ibn Sina is widely regarded as one of the most important philosophers in history.
The philosopher wrote extensively on early Islamic philosophy, especially the subjects logic, ethics, and metaphysics, including treatises named Logic and Metaphysics.
Most of these works were written in Arabic – then the language of science in the Middle East – and some in Persian.
Many of his books are still of linguistic significance today, thanks to fact that they are written in nearly pure Persian.
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What is a polymath?
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas.
For example, a polymath is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.
Ibn Sina quotes
Some of his most important quotes include:
The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes. Therefore in medicine we ought to know the causes of sickness and health. And because health and sickness and their causes are sometimes manifest, and sometimes hidden and not to be comprehended except by the study of symptoms, we must also study the symptoms of health and disease. Now it is established in the sciences that no knowledge is acquired save through the study of its causes and beginnings, if it has had causes and beginnings; nor completed except by knowledge of its accidents and accompanying essentials. Of these causes there are four kinds: material, efficient, formal, and final.
- On Medicine, (c. 1020)
Those who deny the first principle should be flogged or burned until they admit that it is not the same thing to be burned and not burned, or whipped and not whipped.
- Metaphysics, Book I
God, the supreme being, is neither circumscribed by space, nor touched by time; he cannot be found in a particular direction, and his essence cannot change. The secret conversation is thus entirely spiritual; it is a direct encounter between God and the soul, abstracted from all material constraints.
- Quoted in 366 Readings From Islam (2000)
I [prefer] a short life with width to a narrow one with length.
- Quoted in Avicenna (Ibn Sina): Muslim Physician And Philosopher of the Eleventh Century (2006), by Aisha Khan
One of the pre-modern world’s most influential philosophers, Ibn Sina (sometimes known as “Avicenna” in the West) was born in the year 980, during what’s now known as the Islamic Golden Age.
Ibn Sina grew up in Afšana, a village near Bukhara, near present-day Uzbekistan. A self-taught polymath, Ibn Sina learned Indian arithmetic from an Indian grocer. He continued to pursue learning throughout his life, undertaking an intense study of Aristotle’s Metaphysics when he was in his teens, and studying medicine from the age of 16 (reportedly finding this subject “easy”).
A writer in a wide range of fields, Ibn Sina authored 131 books, the most influential of which is the monumental Al Qanun fil-Tibb, ‘The Canon of Medicine.’ This pioneering study was translated into Latin in the 12th century, and became the predominant text used in European medical courses until the 17th century. The first work to identify contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, to hypothesize that soil and water spread sickness, and to set forth the basics of anatomy, pediatrics, and gynecology, the ‘Canon’ is now credited as forming the basis of Western medicine.
Today’s Doodle celebrates Ibn Sina: a life devoted to education and the spirit of learning for the betterment of humankind.
Doodle by Cynthia Yuan Cheng
Early concepts of the Doodle below
The Google Doodle for Tuesday, August 7 celebrates the polymath physician and philosopher Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna in the West, who was born in what is present-day Uzbekistan in 980.
One of the most influential thinkers of all time, Avicenna was a polymath who excelled in fields as far ranging as mathematics, physics, medicine and philosophy.
His works in these fields still influence much of modern-day thought.
Here is all you need to know about Ibn Sina including why he is known as Avicenna, who he was and his works.
The Google Doodle for August 7 celebrates the polymath physician and philosopher Ibn Sina
Who was Avicenna?
Ali Al Husayn Ibn Sina was born in 980 in Afsana, present-day Uzbekistan, during the Islamic Golden Age. The name Avicenna is the Latin corruption of Ibn Sina, which means ‘Son of Sina’.
Avicenna’s prodigious intellect manifested itself from an early age. By the age of ten, he known the Quran off by heart; by thirteen he was studying medicine; and by sixteen he had become an expert in the fields of physics, mathematics, metaphysics and logic.
Avicenna was just 21 years of age when he started writing his seminal work, Al Qanun fil-Tibb ‘The Canon of Medicine’. The texts, according to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, presents an ‘integrated view of surgery and medicine’ and continues to have ‘an enduring respect’.
Avicenna’s ‘The Canon of Medicine’
Avicenna split ‘The Canon of Medicine’ into five texts: the first presents a general overview of medical principles and human anatomy, as well as standard therapeutic procedures.
Known as Avicenna in the West, he wrote the highly influential text 'The Canon of Medicine'
The second outlines medical substances set out alphabetically and discusses the nature and quality of drugs, while the third focuses on diagnoses and treatments of diseases specific to individual parts of the body.
The fourth zooms out and explores ailments not specific to just one part, including obesity and bites. The fifth and final book is a list of compound medicines.
Avicenna’s texts became hugely influential and was the default text used on European medical courses until the 1600s.
As the Google Doodle notes: ‘The first work to identify contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, to hypothesize that soil and water spread sickness, and to set forth the basics of anatomy, pediatrics, and gynecology, the ‘Canon’ is now credited as forming the basis of Western medicine.’
Avicenna’s medical expertise brought him to the attention of the Sultan of Bukhara, whom he ended up treating successfully for an infection, in return the Sultan granted him access to his library of rare texts and manuscripts.
In his life, staying true to his polymath nature, Avicenna worked as everything from a political administrator, soldier, court physician and was even imprisoned at one point.
It is thought that Avicenna wrote over 100 texts during his life.
Avicenna died in the holy month of Ramadan in 1037.
Avicenna was a polymath who excelled in fields of science, medicine, maths and metaphysics
What is a Google Doodle?
Avicenna has been honoured in the Google Doodle for August 7, 2018 on what would have been his 1038th birthday.
In paying tribute, the Doodle, which was created by Cynthia Yuan Cheng, says: ‘Today’s Doodle celebrates Ibn Sina: a life devoted to education and the spirit of learning for the betterment of humankind.’
Google Doodles are small illustrations or animations that appear in the Google logo on the search engine's homepage.
The first time a Google Doodle was used was in 1998, when Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin visited the 1998 Burning Man Festival. To commemorate their trip, the founders drew a stick-man standing behind the second ‘o’ in the Google logo.
Recent Google Doodles include Mount Olympus, Gerda Taro, and Meena Kumari.
