Adam Smith was a Scottish thinker from the 18th century that is today known as the Father of Economics.
Smith wrote a book entitled the Wealth of Nations that analyzed how nations can work to develop wealth.
Smith's thinking quickly developed into the doctrine of free markets and economists use his basic thinking to this day to think about what markets should look like under perfect and imperfect conditions.
Smith's influence on thinkers, especially as it relates to how we structure our financial markets, makes him one of history's more influential thinkers.