The Man Who Knew Everything
Thursday, 02 November 2023
Room 402, Suttie Centre
AVICENNA, IBN SINA, IN EUROPE’S MEDICAL EDUCATION (OR THE MAN WHO KNEW EVERYTHING)
2 November 2023
Professor Ehsan Masood, London-based science journalist.
Avicenna’s 11th century Arabic medical textbook, "The Canon of Medicine" became Western Europe’s main university medical text until the late 1600s. It was taught to aspiring doctors at the universities of Bologna, Montpelier, Padua, Paris and Siena. In this talk, science writer Ehsan Masood will explore the life and impact of the book’s author and also discuss if there is evidence it was used by Scottish physicians or in medical education in Scotland.
Ehsan Masood is senior editor at the journal Nature. A specialist in science and policy, he is the author of "Science and Islam: A History", which is tied to a BBC radio and television series exploring science in Islamicate history and in the contemporary Islamic world. His work also includes documentaries for BBC Radio 4 including ‘Surviving McCarthy’ on the scientists who suffered discrimination in the McCarthy era United States. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught science and innovation policy at Imperial College London from 2007 to 2017.
Notes
A recording of this talk is available.