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Smith is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

On 21 May 1767 Adam Smith was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. The dated fellowship is not the 1783 Edinburgh Royal Society and not the 1787 Glasgow rectorship. In the causal graph this event strengthens Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.

Read the full account

On 21 May 1767 Adam Smith was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. The dated fellowship is not the 1783 Edinburgh Royal Society and not the 1787 Glasgow rectorship. Adam Smith’s documented role is: He was elected FRS after the continental tour. The Society admitted; he did not found it. London FRS is a different corporation. Later editors, printers, and excavators remain named where they appear.

Context

He was then writing in Kirkcaldy after the tour. A fellowship is not unique authorship of the Society’s experiments. Later FRSE is a neighbouring honour. Named others on the file: Proposing fellows, the Royal Society’s admitting meeting, and later biographical compilers share the heading. The public setting is the file around 1767-05-21. Contribution type is direct. The instrument stays Smith is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. The setting of Smith is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society is the public file around 1767-05-21. Contribution type is direct. Driver edu-digital-learning-access is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. London FRS is a different corporation. Mixed effects of Smith is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society are separate paths.

Why it matters

Direct on the election. Welfare reading improving. The attached mechanism is A dated London scientific-society fellowship placed the Glasgow professor inside a public learned corporation. Lag to any modern indicator is not treated as zero. This path is attached because the mechanism is named from this act, not because a driver list needed coverage. The welfare reading on this path is improving.

The contribution type is direct. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Adam Smith

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.32 · verified

    He was elected FRS after the continental tour. The Society admitted; he did not found it.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Royal Society — Adam Smith FRS heritageThe Royal Society · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — Adam SmithEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Royal Society heritage and Britannica independently date the 1767 FRS election. Official: Royal Society — Adam Smith FRS heritage (https://royalsociety.org/ (opens in a new tab); The Royal Society). Independent: Britannica — Adam Smith, honours (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Smith (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica). The two URLs are different pages. Where the carrier is a later edition or a received narrative, that limit is stated rather than upgraded to an autograph. Official carrier: Royal Society — Adam Smith FRS heritage (https://royalsociety.org/ (opens in a new tab); The Royal Society). Independent carrier: Britannica — Adam Smith, honours (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Smith (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Established: FRS 21 May 1767. Not established: that he uniquely directed London science. Established: a sourced public record of Smith is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society under 1767-05-21.

Shared responsibility is part of Smith is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Naming Adam Smith does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1767-05-21 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorAdam Smith
  2. contributed toFactSmith is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
  3. strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Smith is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/asm-frs-1767

https://factrail.ai/facts/asm-frs-1767

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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