--- title: Google Doodle Honors Polymath Avicenna for 1038th Birthday description: Google Doodle celebrates what would be the 1038th birthday of Avicenna, one of the most influential pre-modern thinkers canonical: https://time.com/5359483/google-doodle-avicenna-ib-sina/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-07T07:39:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:14.686Z og:title: What to Know About Avicenna, Polymath of Islamic Golden Age og:description: The father of early modern medicine was born 1,038 years ago og:url: https://time.com/5359483/google-doodle-avicenna-ib-sina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20a27d173fc5c276/6989372f22fb850fe9e265c7/ibn-sinas-1038th-birthday-5768556863029248-2-2x.png?branch=production&width=818&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 818 og:image:height: 460 og:image:alt: ibn-sinas-1038th-birthday-5768556863029248.2-2x og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About Avicenna, Polymath of Islamic Golden Age twitter:description: The father of early modern medicine was born 1,038 years ago twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20a27d173fc5c276/6989372f22fb850fe9e265c7/ibn-sinas-1038th-birthday-5768556863029248-2-2x.png?branch=production&width=818&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What to Know About Avicenna, Great Medical Mind of the Islamic Golden Age > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 7, 2018 7:39 AM UTC  A Google Doodle honoring Ibn Sina’s 1038th Birthday on August 7, 2018. A Google Doodle honoring Ibn Sina’s 1038th Birthday on August 7, 2018. Google Doodle by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 7, 2018 7:39 AM UTC Astronomy, medicine, theology, physics, arithmetic, poetry — there was seemingly no discipline left untouched by the renowned polymath Avicenna, celebrated today by [Google Doodle](https://www.google.com/doodles/ibn-sinas-1038th-birthday) in honor of what would be his 1,038th birthday. Also known as Ibn Sīnā, Avicenna was one of the most influential thinkers of the medieval Islamic world. Born in 980 during the Islamic Golden Age, Avicenna was a self-taught intellectual. Growing up in Afšana, a village near Bukhara in what is present-day Uzbekistan, Avicenna learned Indian arithmetic from a grocer, pursued an intense study of Aristotle’s _Metaphysics_ during his teenage years and began studying medicine at age of 16. Avicenna was also a prolific writer, authoring at least 131 books. His contributions to medicine were particularly significant. _Al Qanun fil-Tibb_, or the _Canon of Medicine_, is a monumental medical encyclopedia that was translated into Latin in the 12th century and used as the primary text for European medical courses until the 17th century. Avicenna’s work was the first to recognize diseases like tuberculosis and postulate that illnesses could spread through soil and water. The _Canon_, having established some of the fundamentals of anatomy, pediatrics, and gynecology, is now recognized as laying the groundwork for Western medicine. Avicenna also wrote extensively on early Islamic philosophy. One of his most famous works, the _Book of Healing_, is a science and philosophic encyclopedia intended to cure ailments of the soul. Also called the _Cure,_ Avicenna’s metaphysics is said to have had a [major impact](https://www.iep.utm.edu/avicenna/#H5) on European scholasticism, and in particular the Italian theologian Thomas Aquinas. In June 1037, Avicenna was struck with severe colic, a disease of the abdomen. 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