Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, known in Latin as Albucasis, was a Berber physician and surgeon of al-Andalus who served as court physician to the caliph al-Hakam II in Cordoba. He is considered one of the greatest surgical minds of the Middle Ages, credited with identifying the hereditary nature of haemophilia and describing abdominal pregnancy, and with introducing over 200 surgical instruments along with the use of catgut sutures. His thirty-volume medical encyclopedia, Kitab al-Tasrif, became the standard European surgical text for roughly five centuries after its Latin translation.
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Birth YearInfobox gives c. 936; exact birth year not established. Connections
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Al-Zahrawi, author of Al-Tasrif, is called the father of modern surgery.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Al-Zahrawi
Wikipediainfobox, Born field
c. 936 Medina Azahara, al-Andalus (near present-day Córdoba, Spain)
infobox, Died field
1013 (aged 76-77)
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Why did Europe rely on Al-Zahrawi's surgical writing for so long?
The surgery volume of his Kitab al-Tasrif became the standard European surgical text for about five centuries.
His thirty-volume Kitab al-Tasrif ended with a volume on surgery and instruments, which historians describe as his most important work and the one that established his authority in Europe. After its Latin translation it served as the standard European surgical text for roughly five centuries. It described more than 200 surgical instruments, along with catgut sutures, giving surgeons an illustrated practical reference.
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