World of Pharmacy

JABIR IBN HAYYAN (CHEMIST)

Jabir is mostly renowned for his contributions to chemistry. He emphasised systematic experimentation, and credited with invention of over twenty types of chemical laboratory equipment, such as retort and discovered many chemical substances and processes include hydrochloric acid and nitric acid.  Besides its obvious applications to gold extraction and purification, he also tribute with the discovery of citric acid(sour component of lemons and unripe fruits), acetic acid (vinegar), and tartaric acid (wine making residues).


AL-BAITAR DHIYA AL-DIN AL-MALAQI (BOTANIST, SCIENTIST, PHARMACIST, PHYSICIAN)

Ibn al-Baitar considered one of the greatest scientists of Muslim Spain and is believed to be one of the greatest botanist and pharmacist of the Islamic Golden Age and Muslim Agricultural Revolution. There was also a pharmaceutical encyclopedia and contains details on atleast listing 1400 plants, foods, and drugs. 300 of which are his own original discoveries. Ibn Al- Baitar’s second major work is Kitab al-Mughni fi-Adawiya al-Mufrada which is an encyclopedia of Islamic medicine, which incorporates his knowledge of plants extensively for the treatment of various ailments, including diseases related to head, ear and eye.


ABU-RAYHAN BIRUNI (ANTHROPOLOGY, ASTROLOGY, ASTRONOMY)

In the biomedical sciences, al Biruni’s Kitab al-Saidana fi al-Tibb was an extensive medical and pharmacological encyclopedia which synthesized Islamic medicine and Indian medicine. It was earliest to describe the eating of several fungi, including truffles, which are type of hypogenous fungi. Furthermore, he also one of the first chemists to reject the theory of the transmutation of metals supported by some alchemists.