Abu Nasr Mohammad Ibn al-Farakh al-Farabi (
870-
950 A.D.), was one of the greatest scientists and philosophers of his time. Farabi was born in the small village of Wasij in
Turkmenistan from parents of Persian descent. After finishing his early school years in Farab and
Bukhara, Farabi arrived in
Baghdad to pursue higher studies in
901 A.D. He studied in Baghdad for well over 40 years and acquired mastery over several languages and fields of knowledge. Farabi made notable contributions to the fields of math, philosophy, medicine and even music. As a philosopher and
Neo-Platonist[?] he wrote rich commentary on
Aristotle's work. He is also credited for categorizing logic into two separate groups, the first one being idea and the second being proof. Farabi wrote books on sociology and a notable book on music captioned Kitab al-Musiqa (The Book of Music). He played and invented a varied number of instruments. Farabi is also famous for his demonstration of the existence of void in Physics.