Avicenna (Ibn Sina) IQ

Ibn Sina, known in Europe as Avicenna, was born near Bukhara in Central Asia in 980. He memorised the Quran as a child, taught himself medicine and was treating patients by 16. He served as physician and minister to several rulers across Persia, often writing at night or on the move. His Canon of Medicine and Book of Healing became the standard texts of medicine and philosophy for centuries. He died in Hamadan in 1037.

No figure exists. LifeScore lists about 165 as an editorial marker, range 150 to 180. Unlike most early figures he left an autobiography describing his self-teaching in logic, mathematics and medicine as a teenager, which is the kind of evidence historiometric estimates use.

A five-book encyclopedia of medicine completed around 1025, covering anatomy, disease, drugs and treatment. It organised Greek and Islamic medical knowledge into one system and was used as a textbook in European universities into the seventeenth century.

Avicenna asked readers to imagine a person created in mid-air, blindfolded and unable to feel anything. He argued that such a person would still know they exist, so the self is distinct from the body. It anticipates Descartes by six centuries.

Avicenna organised. He absorbed whole traditions, Greek, Persian and Indian, and rebuilt them as clear systems with rules. His autobiography also shows persistence: when stuck, he prayed, slept, returned to the problem and often solved it in a dream.

What supports it

• His autobiography describes mastering logic, mathematics and medicine as a teenager.
• The Canon of Medicine was translated into Latin and printed many times.
• He wrote on philosophy, astronomy, music and poetry as well as medicine.

What it cannot prove

• The childhood account is his own and may be idealised.
• Much of the Canon systematised earlier work.
• An editorial marker is a comparison aid built from achievement, not a measurement, and two careful readers could place it ten points apart.

Avicenna (Ibn Sina)'s IQ is represented here by a retrospective estimate of 165, not a verified test result. Avicenna (Ibn Sina) is best known for exceptional rapid learning. The useful question is what the surviving evidence shows, not whether a precise modern score can be recovered.

Prodigious, restless and confident. A polymath who wrote some 200 works while serving and fleeing a series of rulers.

The dominant archetype here is The Polymath. This archetype shapes decision patterns: what feels natural, what creates friction, and what blind spots tend to emerge.

Estimated IQ is 165. This is a rough estimate based on documented accomplishments and contemporary accounts, not a literal measurement.

He reportedly dictated parts of his works on horseback while travelling with an army.

Avicenna (Ibn Sina)'s estimate of 165 falls in the profoundly gifted IQ range. Want your own number rather than Avicenna's? Take the free IQ test or the quick IQ test. See what an IQ of 165 means, place it on the IQ chart or check how rare it is with the IQ rarity calculator.