Ibn Zuhr

Ibn Zuhr

Abū-Marwān ʻAbd al-Malik ibn Zuhr (Arabic: أبو مروان عبد الملك بن زهر‎; 1094–1162 CE), better known in the West by his Latinized name Avenzoar, was an Arab-Muslim physician, surgeon and a contemporary of Averroes and Maimonides. He was born at Seville (now southwestern Spain) and was regarded as the most renowned physician of Al-Andalus.

Ibn Zuhr was known for his emphasis on a more rational, empiric basis of medicine. His major work, Al-Taysīr fil-Mudāwāt wal-Tadbīr ("Book of Simplification Concerning Therapeutics and Diet"), was translated into Latin and Hebrew and was influential to the progress of surgery. He also improved surgical and medical knowledge by keying out several diseases and their treatments.

Ibn Zuhr performed the first experimental tracheotomy on a goat. He is thought to have made the earliest description of bezoar stones as medicinal items.