Adam, Robert (b. July 3, 1728, Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scot.—d. March 3, 1792, London, Eng.) Scottish architect and designer. Son of the architect William Adam, he apprenticed in his father’s offices. He traveled in Europe in 1754-58, studying architectural theory and Roman ruins. On his return to London, he and his brother James (1732-94) developed an essentially decorative style—known as the Adam style—that was marked by a new lightness and freedom in the use of the Classical elements of architecture. This style is most remembered for its application in interi¬ ors, which were characterized by contrasting room shapes and delicate Classical ornaments. Robert Adam’s executed works, mainly remodeled interiors and exteriors of private houses, include Osterley Park (1761-80) in Middlesex and Kedleston Hall (c. 1765-70) in Derbyshire. Other works include the Adelphi development in London (1768-72) and the Univer¬ sity of Edinburgh (1789). He was also a leading furniture designer; his
style, popularized by designer George Hepplewhite, was meant to harmo¬ nize with his interior architecture down to the last detail.
Adam and Eve In the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, the par¬ ents of the human race. Genesis gives two versions of their creation. In the first, God creates “male and female in his own image” on the sixth day. In the second, Adam is placed in the Garden of Eden, and Eve is later created from his rib to ease his loneliness. For succumbing to temptation and eating the fruit of the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil, God banished them from Eden, and they and their descendants were forced to live lives of hardship. Cain and Abel were their children. Chris¬ tian theologians developed the doctrine of original sin based on the story of their transgression; in contrast, the Quran teaches that Adam’s sin was his alone and did not make all people sinners.
Adamawa \,a-da-'ma-wa\ Traditional emirate centered in what is now Adamawa state, eastern Nigeria. It was founded by Modibbo Adama in the early 19th century. He moved the capital several times before finally settling it in 1841 in Yola. The British Royal Niger Company established trading posts there; when the emir tried to force them out in 1901, they captured the town. Adamawa was partitioned in 1901 between British Northern Nigeria and German Kamerun (Cameroon). In 1919 the Cam¬ eroon portion was divided between the French and the British. The emir¬ ate’s territories eventually came to form almost all of northern Cameroon and part of eastern Nigeria.
Adamawa-Ubangi X.ad-o-'ma-wo-ii-'baq-geV languages formerly Adamawa-Eastern languages Branch of the huge Niger-Congo language family. Adamawa-Ubangi languages are spoken in eastern Nige¬ ria, northern Cameroon, southwestern Chad, and western Central African Republic. The branch has two divisions, Adamawa in the west and Ubangi in the east. The Adamawa group comprises 80 languages, the least-studied languages in the Niger-Congo family. Nearly all have fewer than 100,000 speakers. The Ubangi group includes 40 languages and extends across a much broader region, from northern Cameroon across the Central Africa Republic to adjacent parts of southern Sudan and northern Congo (Kin¬ shasa). Ubangi languages with more than a million speakers include those of the Banda, Gbaya, Ngbaka, and Zande peoples. Sango, a restructured form of one or more languages of the Ngbandi group of Ubangi, has become a lingua franca of the Central African Republic.
Adamov Xo-'da-movV Arthur (b. Aug. 23, 1908, Kislovodsk, Russia—d. March 16, 1970, Paris, France) Russian-born French play¬ wright. He settled in Paris in 1924, and his first major work, written after suffering a nervous breakdown, was his autobiography, The Confession (1938-43). Influenced by August Strindberg and Franz Kafka, he began writing plays in 1947. Professor Taranne (1953) and Ping-Pong (1955) expressed a view of life’s meaninglessness that was characteristic of the Theatre of the Absurd. In Paolo Paoli (1957) and later plays, he abandoned Absurdism for radical political theatre influenced by Bertolt Brecht. He died from a drug overdose, an apparent suicide.
Adams, Abigail orig. Abigail Smith (b. Nov. 22, 1744, Weymouth, Mass.—d. Oct. 28, 1818, Quincy, Mass., U.S.) U.S. first lady. She was the daughter of a Congregational minister. Educated entirely at home, she became an avid reader of history. She married John Adams in 1764 and raised four children, including John Quincy Adams, in Quincy, Mass. In 1774 she began a prolific correspondence with her husband, who was attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia; she described daily life and discussed public affairs during the American Revolution with wit and political acuity. She continued her letters to family and friends while in Europe (1784-88) and Washington, D.C. (1789-1801), during her hus¬ band’s diplomatic and presidential careers. She was considered an influ¬ ential adviser to him.
Adams, Ansel (b. Feb. 20, 1902, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—d. April 22, 1984, Carmel, Calif.) U.S. photographer. In 1927 he published Parme- lian Prints of the High Sierras, photographs that imitated Impressionist painting by suppressing detail in favour of soft, misty effects achieved in the darkroom. Adams was known for his dramatic images of mountain landscapes. He became one of the outstanding technicians in the history of photography; Making a Photograph (1935) was the first of his many books on photographic technique. He worked consistently to foster pub¬ lic awareness of photography as a fine art. In 1940 he helped organize the first public collection of photographs, at the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1946 he established, at the California School of Fine Arts, the first aca¬ demic photography department.
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Adams, Charles Francis (b. Aug. 18, 1807, Boston, Mass., U.S.—d. Nov. 21, 1886, Boston) U.S. diplo¬ mat. The son of John Quincy Adams and the grandson of John Adams, he served in the Massachusetts legisla¬ ture and edited a Whig journal. He helped form the antislavery Free-Soil Party and in 1848 was chosen its can¬ didate for U.S. vice president. As ambassador to Britain (1861-68) he was instrumental in securing Brit¬ ain’s neutrality during the American Civil War and in promoting the arbi¬ tration of the Alabama claims.
Adams, Gerry orig. Gerard Adams (b. Oct. 6, 1948, Belfast,
N.Ire.) Irish nationalist and president of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). He was interned without trial as a suspected terrorist in 1972, 1973-76, and 1978.
He became vice president of Sinn Fein in 1978 and persuaded the group to enter candidates in the 1981 elections. Elected to the British House of Commons in 1983, he refused to take the oath of allegiance and never took his seat. In 1991, as Sinn Fein’s president (from 1983), he began to shift its strategy toward negotiation; his efforts led to indirect talks with the British government and a 1993 agreement (the Downing Street Declaration) by the British and Irish prime ministers to consider the future of Northern Ireland. He was credited with the IRA’s 1994 cease-fire announcement and was pivotal in winning support for the Good Friday Agreement (1998), which led to the creation of a power-sharing assembly in Northern Ireland.
Adams, Henry (Brooks) (b. Feb. 16, 1838, Boston, Mass., U.S.—d. March 27, 1918, Washington, D.C.) U.S. historian and man of letters. A product of Boston’s elite Brahmin class and a descendant of two presi¬ dents, he was infused with disgust for American politics of his time. As a young newspaper correspondent and editor, he called for social and political reforms, but he later became disillusioned with a world he char¬ acterized as devoid of principle. That loss of faith was reflected in his novel Democracy (1880). His study of U.S. democracy culminated in his nine-volume History of the United States of America (1889-91), which received immediate acclaim. In Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres (1913) he described the medieval worldview as reflected in its architecture. The Education of Henry Adams (1918), his best-known work and one of the outstanding autobiographies of Western literature, traced his confronta¬ tions with the uncertainties of the 20th century.