Donald Adamson

Donald Adamson ( born March 30, 1939 in Culcheth, Cheshire, England ) is a British historian and critic; He is also the translator of several masterpieces of French literature ( Honoré de Balzac, Guy de Maupassant ). Its main publication is Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God.

Biography

Adamson was born on 30 March 1939 in Culcheth, Cheshire, England. He was the son of a farmer. In 1959 he received the degree of B. A. (Bachelor of Arts) at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, where he was from 1959 to 1960 Zaharoff Travelling Scholar of the University. In 1962 he won the degree B.Litt. (Bachelor of Letters ). In his doctoral thesis, which for the degree of D.Phil in 1971. was presented, it was " Balzac and the Visual Arts"; it was supervised by Jean Seznec of All Souls College, University of Oxford.

From 1969 to 1989 Adamson taught at Goldsmiths, University of London, before he was a Visiting Fellow ( external lecturer) appointed in 1989 by the Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

In the area of ​​public policy, he has been very active for the prosperity of the museums, art galleries and libraries of the United Kingdom. He has fought for the creation of the National Heritage Memorial Fund (National Heritage Memorial Fund ) long and successfully.

Writings

Both for physics as for mathematics analyzes Adamson Pascal's scientific contribution to the thinking of the seventeenth century. He explains his activity in ethics (Les Lettres provinciales ), in the mores (Les Pensées ) and as a Christian apologist, though not a professional theologian. At the heart of his analysis is the perception that makes Pascal the contradictions of human nature itself, as well as his deep scholarship for almost all aspects of Judaism, the Rabbinical Judaism and the doctrines and traditions of Christianity.

However, Adamson's presentation of his subject in much more humanistic direction is inclined, as it shows only limited interest for Pascal's employment with the doctrine of original sin.

From the standpoint of mathematics Adamson explores the Pascal's Wager in Blaise Pascal. Since the publication of this book he has done more work on Pascal's mathematical detecting the deity.

In the context of the painting he wrote about Oskar Kokoschka. He also has the influence of Spanish artists (El Greco, Francisco de Zurbarán, Jusepe de Ribera, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, Francisco de Goya ) to the writer of French Romanticism ( Théophile Gautier, Prosper Mérimée, Edgar Quinet, Victor Hugo) examined.