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Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow

In 1787 Adam Smith was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow and was installed that November. The dated honorific office is not the 1751/52 teaching chair and not the 1778 customs commission. 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

In 1787 Adam Smith was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow and was installed that November. The dated honorific office is not the 1751/52 teaching chair and not the 1778 customs commission. Adam Smith’s documented role is: Glasgow students and the university elected him Rector. He accepted; he did not resume the moral-philosophy chair. Rectorship is a later honour. Later editors, printers, and excavators remain named where they appear.

Context

He was already a Commissioner of Customs in Edinburgh. Named others on the file: Glasgow students and Senate, unnamed university officers, and Smith as rector share the honour. The public setting is the file around 1787-11-15. Contribution type is direct. The instrument stays Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow. The setting of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow is the public file around 1787-11-15. 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. Rectorship is a later honour. Mixed effects of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow are separate paths.

Why it matters

Direct on the election. Welfare reading improving. The attached mechanism is A dated honorific headship recognised a former professor as a public university officer. 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 0.36 · verified

    Glasgow students and the university elected him Rector. He accepted; he did not resume the moral-philosophy chair.

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.University of Glasgow — Smith professorship heritageUniversity of Glasgow · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — Adam SmithEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Glasgow heritage and Britannica independently date the 1787 rectorship. Official: University of Glasgow — Adam Smith as Rector heritage (https://www.gla.ac.uk/ (opens in a new tab); University of Glasgow). Independent: Britannica — Adam Smith, Rector of Glasgow (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: University of Glasgow — Adam Smith as Rector heritage (https://www.gla.ac.uk/ (opens in a new tab); University of Glasgow). Independent carrier: Britannica — Adam Smith, Rector of Glasgow (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Smith (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Established: 1787 Glasgow Rector. Not established: that he uniquely governed curriculum that year. Established: a sourced public record of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow under 1787-11-15.

Shared responsibility is part of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow. Naming Adam Smith does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1787-11-15 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 Rector of the University of Glasgow
  3. strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/asm-rector-1787

https://factrail.ai/facts/asm-rector-1787

Accessed 16 October 2026.

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

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