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Ibn al-Nafis

ابْن النَّفِيس

First to describe pulmonary blood circulation — 300 years before Harvey

Born: 1213 CE, Damascus
Died: 1288 CE, Cairo
Era: Medieval
Field: Medicine
Origin: Damascus, Syria
Ala al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qarshi, known as Ibn al-Nafis, was a 13th-century Arab physician who first described the pulmonary circulation of blood — how blood flows from the heart to the lungs and back — 300 years before William Harvey.