Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, was a highly respected Persian physician whose medical treatise, the Canon of Medicine, influenced medical practice for centuries. He was born near Bukhara, then the capital of the Persian Samanid dynasty and the intellectual center of Islam. Avicenna's father hired tutors to teach him the Koran and literature, and sent him to the greengrocer to learn arithmetic. So bright that his teachers soon had nothing left to impart to him, Avicenna continued his education on his own, instructing himself in astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, and medicine. At 16 he already had a reputation as an authority in legal and medical matters.

When the Samanid ruler Nuh ibn Mansur fell ill, Avicenna was asked to consult with the court doctors. The ruler recovered, and Avicenna was offered a position at court as a physician, which gave him...