Overview

During the thirteenth century, the Egyptian physician Ibn an-Nafis (c. 1210-1280; also known as Ali ibn Abi al-Harma al-Qurayshi Ibn an-Nafis) described the minor, or pulmonary circulation of the blood. However, this discovery was apparently ignored by his contemporaries and was forgotten until the twentieth century. Historians of medicine generally believed that pulmonary circulation was first described by Miguel Serveto (Michael Servetus; c.1511-1553) and Realdo Colombo (c. 1516-c. 1559) in the sixteenth century.

Background

The Middle Ages of European history roughly correspond to the golden age of Islam, the religion founded by the prophet Muhammad (570-632). Just as Latin served as the common language of learning for students throughout Europe, Arabic was the language of learning throughout the Islamic world. Thus, Arabic texts need not have Arab authors; Persians, Jews, and Christians took part in the development of Arabic...