Ibn al-Nafis

c. 1213 – 17 December 1288

Ibn al-Nafis was an Arab physician and polymath of the Mamluk era, best known as the first person to describe the pulmonary circulation of the blood, more than three centuries before European anatomists. Working in Damascus and Cairo, he wrote extensively on medicine, jurisprudence, theology, and philosophy.

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Life events

Born near Damascus
c. 1213

Ibn al-Nafis was born in or near Damascus in Ayyubid Syria around 1213.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Studied medicine at the Nuri hospital in Damascus
c. 1229

He trained at the Bimaristan al-Nuri under the physician al-Dakhwar, one of the leading medical teachers of the age, while also studying jurisprudence and grammar.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Moved to Cairo
c. 1236

Ibn al-Nafis relocated to Cairo, then the political and intellectual center of the Ayyubid and later Mamluk realms, where he spent the rest of his career.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Practiced and taught at the Nasiri hospital in Cairo
c. 1240

He worked at the Bimaristan al-Nasiri, teaching medicine and jurisprudence and training students including the surgeon Ibn al-Quff.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Described the pulmonary circulation of the blood
c. 1242

In his Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon, he correctly stated that blood passes from the right ventricle to the left via the lungs, contradicting Galen's doctrine of pores in the septum.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Worked on the vast medical encyclopedia al-Shamil fi al-Tibb
c. 1250

Ibn al-Nafis planned al-Shamil fi al-Tibb as a 300-volume medical encyclopedia, completing roughly 80 volumes before his death.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Served as chief physician of Egypt
c. 1260

Late in life he was appointed chief of physicians in Egypt under the Mamluk sultanate and served as personal physician to Sultan Baybars.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Wrote the philosophical novel Theologus Autodidactus
c. 1270

He composed al-Risala al-Kamiliyya, known in Latin as Theologus Autodidactus, a theological narrative sometimes described as an early philosophical novel.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Bequeathed his house and library to the Mansuri hospital
c. 1288

Before his death he donated his house and personal library to the newly founded Qalawun (Mansuri) hospital in Cairo.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Cairo
17 December 1288

Ibn al-Nafis died in Cairo on 17 December 1288 after a short illness.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓