Among the great scientists who made a tremendous contribution to the evolution of world civilization, a special place is attributed to the scholar and encyclopedist Abu Ali ibn Sino (also known as Avicenna). His works in the fields of medicine, literature, music, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, geography, psychology and philosophy are topical even today.

Speaking at the international conference “Historical Heritage of Scientists and Thinkers of the Medieval East, Its Role and Significance for the Modern Civilization” that took place in Samarkand on 15-16 May, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov stressed that the brilliant works and the scholarly legacy of the outstanding scientists and intellectuals of the medieval East are the heritage of all the humankind.

Among the great scientists who made a tremendous contribution to the evolution of world civilization, a special place is attributed to the scholar and encyclopedist Abu Ali ibn Sino (also known as Avicenna). His works in the fields of medicine, literature, music, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, geography, psychology and philosophy are topical even today.

In the process of spiritual-enlightenment reforms spearheaded in Uzbekistan in the independence years, a particular significance is attached to a profound study of Abu Ali ibn Sino’s life and activities, to teach the growing generation the high ideas his works are permeated with, to nurture the youth in the spirit of respect for our rich history.

The establishment of the Ibn Sino Public Fund set up under the initiative of President Islam Karimov, the organization of various international scientific-practical conferences in the land of the great intellectual – Bukhara – is important in inquiring into the life, activities and the scholarly legacy of the exceptional encyclopedist scientist of the East and in the further research into his rich heritage.

“The life and activities of our great ancestor, Abu Ali ibn Sino, are a proper model for the posterity and they stir the sense of pride and respect,” says the Executive Director of the Ibn Sino Public Fund Nozimkhon Mahmudov. “In the East, among the scientists, his contemporaries he was known as the ‘shaykh ar-Rais’ (the head of scholars, the guru), while in the West he was renowned as the ‘sachem of philosophers’ or a ‘prince of physicians’. Ibn Sino’s works exerted enormous influence – for several centuries – on the science and culture of the East and the West.”

As sources suggest, having started scientific research when he was as young as 16, Ibn Sino wrote more than 450 works, but only 242 of them have reached us. In the Middle Ages, Ibn Sino’s masterpieces were translated into Latin, which was a language of science back then, as well as many other languages. His treatises were admired by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Francis Bacon, and others.

As suggested by the Indonesian Professor Agus Suwandono, who attended an international academic conference in Bukhara to discuss the role of Abu Ali Ibn Sino’s teachings in the development of science, the outstanding genius made invaluable input into the evolution of world medicine. His text “Tib Qonunlari” (Canons of Medicine) used to be a teaching guide in medical schools of leading European universities during several centuries. In our days, as well, the academic heritage of the great scholar has hardly lost its relevance. In the modern medical science, he is often referred to when searching for solutions to pressing issues, which is indicative of the inexhaustible nature of Ibn Sino’s teachings as a source of knowledge.

Wide-ranging scientific and practical projects are run currently in Uzbekistan to study and research the legacy of Ibn Sino. Notably, Ibn Sino traditional international reading events are held to propagate the rich heritage of the great thinker by the Ibn Sino Public Fund in cooperation with Uzbekistan’s Academy of Sciences, the Bukhara regional administration, the Ministry of Healthcare and other organizations. They serve to promote extensively the role of Ibn Sino’s doctrines in human health protection and its significance for the further development of the contemporary medical science.

For the purposes of international exchange of experience, study the achievements in the world medicine, promoting the heritage of the great healer Ibn Sino, search for his unknown works by governmental and nongovernmental organizations, the leading medical and scientific institutions of Uzbekistan have established close cooperation with the World Health Organization, the eminent international scientific and medical centers, nongovernmental organizations in healthcare.

The Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute regularly hosts conferences, meetings and conversations in tribute to the life and activities of Abu Ali Ibn Sino, his works in the field of scientific-practical medicine. An Abu Ali Ibn Sino Park in the campus of the Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute. Here, a diversity of mass events are organized with the participation of the faculty, students and graduate students of the institute. The gifted students of the institution are awarded the Abu Ali Ibn Sino State Scholarships.

“That I have become winner of the scholarship named after our great ancestor imposes an enormous responsibility on me,” says Asal Saidkhodjaeva, student of the Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute. “Because, as the head of our state has noted, we have the right to be proud of our great forefathers. But at the same time, we should enrich that heritage and make a worthwhile input into its preservation and multiplication.”