Adam Smith FRSA was a Scottish economist, philosopher and author, as well as a moral philosopher, a pioneer of political economy and a key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith is best known for two classic works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). The latter, often abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith laid the foundations of classical free market economic theory. Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife, Scotland. He studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow, teaching moral philosophy. In his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day. ADAM SMITH, the greatest of political economists, was born in 1723 at Kirkcaldy in Fifeshire, Scotland. lie was sent in 1737 to the University of Glasgow, and three years later to Balliol College, Oxford, where he remained seven years. In 1748 he gave lectures at Edinburgh on rhetoric and belles-lettres, and the intimate friendship) which he here formed with David Hume must have powerfully influenced the formation of his opinions. In 1751 he was elected Professor of Logic in Glasgow, and in the following year was transferred to the Chair of Moral Philosophy in the same University, a position which he occupied for nearly twelve years. In 1759 he brought out his "Theory of Moral Sentiments." Subsequently he made a prolonged sojourn in France, where he lived in the society of Quesnay, Turgot, D’Alembert and Helvetius. There is reason to believe that he began at Toulouse the "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," a work upon which he was employed for many years. This remarkable book appeared in 1776, and must still be regarded as the greatest existing essay in the field of political economy, the only attempt to replace it, that of John Stuart Mill, having, on the whole, miscarried, notwithstanding its partial usefulness. Buckle pronounced it "the most important book ever written."
