Although nobody knows exactly when he was born, his birth was registered on 5 June 1723, so assuming he was registered a couple of days after the birth, today would be his 283rd birthday !
Shortly before adam smith was born, his father died, leaving just the mother raise him, but throughout Smith's life, he remained committed to his widowed mother, and never married.
At around the age of four, he was kidnapped by a band of Gypsies, however he was quickly rescued by his uncle and returned to his mother - other than this, Smith's early life was rather normal!
By fourteen, he was studying moral philosophy and mathematics at the University of Glasgow, where he developed a strong passion for liberty, reason and free speech. In 1740, he won a scholarship to go to Oxford, however Smith thought the university quite worthless, and he returned to Glasgow in 1746 to become a teacher.
Whilst in Scotland he managed to establish a reputation for himself by writing The Theory of Moral Sentiments, this led to the young Duke of Buccleugh hiring Smith as a tutor to go on the Grand Tour of Europe with him.
Visiting Europe was a perfect opportunity for Smith to collect information about different economies and manners, which he later compiled in his magnum opus, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
wealth_nations was a pioneering book on free trade and market economics. His ideas laid the foundation for the free market economies of the 21st Century, and although conceived over 300 years ago, Adam Smith’s ideas are as significant and relevant today as ever.
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