Robert McCormick Adams Jr.

Robert McCormick Adams Jr. (July 23, 1926 – January 27, 2018) was an American anthropologist and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1984–94). He worked in both the Near East and Mesoamerica. A long time professor of the University of Chicago, he was best known for his research in Iraq. He served as the provost of the University of Chicago (1982–84).

Secretary of the Smithsonian

Adams served as the ninth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., from 1984 to 1994. a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1970, and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1974. In 1988, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. Adams received the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement in 2002 from the Archaeological Institute of America.

Works The Land Behind Baghdad: A History of Settlement on the Diyala Plains (1965) TREND AND TRADITION IN NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY (1966) The Evolution of Urban Society: Early Mesopotamia and Prehispanic Mexico (1966) Michael M. Davis, a Tribute (1971) The Uruk countryside: The natural setting of urban societies (1972) PATTERNS OF URBANIZATION IN EARLY SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA (1973) WORLD PICTURE, ANTHROPOLOGICAL FRAME [DISTINGUISHED LECTURE - 1976] (1977) Heartland of Cities:Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates (1981) Oriental Institute 1982-83 Annual Report (University of Chicago) (1983) Science, Ethics, and Food: Papers and Proceedings of a Colloquium Organized by the Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian International Symposia Series) (1988) SMITHSONIAN YEAR 1992 (1993) Smithsonian: February 1993 (1993) Paths of Fire: An anthropologist's inquiry into Western technology (1996) The Family in America: Searching for Social Harmony in the Industrial Age (2003)