Adam Smit

Adam Smith (1723–1790) was a great Scottish philosopher and economist, one of the founders of modern economic theory.

Adam Smith was born in 1723 in the small town of Kirkcaldy, near Edinburgh. His father, a customs official, died two months before his son was born. Adam was the only child of a young widow, and she devoted her entire life to him. At the age of four he was kidnapped by gypsies, but was quickly rescued by his uncle and returned to his mother. It is assumed that Adam was an only child, as no records of brothers or sisters have been found anywhere. The boy grew up fragile and sickly, shunning the noisy games of his peers. Fortunately, Kirkcaldy had a good school, and there were always many books around Adam — this helped him receive a good education.

Very early, at the age of 14 (as was customary at the time), Smith entered the University of Glasgow. After the logic class compulsory for all students (the first year), he moved on to the class of moral philosophy, where he studied under Francis Hutcheson, thus choosing the humanities. However, he also studied mathematics and astronomy and always had considerable knowledge in these fields. By the age of 17, Smith had a reputation among students as a learned and somewhat odd young man. He could suddenly fall into deep thought in the middle of a noisy company or begin talking to himself, forgetting those around him.

Having successfully completed university in 1740, Smith received a scholarship for further study at Oxford University. At Oxford he spent almost continuously six years, noting with surprise that in the renowned university they taught almost nothing and could teach almost nothing. The ignorant professors were occupied only with intrigues, politicking, and spying on students. More than 30 years later, in The Wealth of Nations, Smith settled accounts with them, provoking an outburst of their fury. He wrote, in particular: “At the University of Oxford, the greater part of the professors have, for many years, given up altogether even the pretence of teaching.”

The futility of a further stay in England and political events (the 1745–1746 uprising of Stuart supporters) forced Smith in the summer of 1746 to return to Kirkcaldy, where he lived for