Adam SmithAdam Smith was a Scottish economist and philosopher who pioneered political economics and was a key figure in Scottish education. He was born on June 16, 1723, in Kirkcaldy, in Fife, Scotland, and was known as "The Father of Economics" or "The Fatherof Capitalism". Smith's mother was born to Margaret Douglas, daughter of landowner Robert Douglas of Strathendry, also in Fife; She married Father Smith in 1720. Two months before Smith was born, her father died, leaving her mother a widow. Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford, where he was one of the first students to benefit from a scholarship organized by fellow Scot John Snell. After graduating, he successfully taught a public lecture series at the University of Edinburgh in 1784. Smith passed on 17 July 1790 in the north wing of Panmure House in Edinburgh after a painful sickness. He was buried at Canongate Kirkyard. On his deathbed, Smith communicated frustration that he had done nothing more. He wrote two classic books, The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759 and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776. Read More Read Less