John Loudon McAdam (1756 – 1836) was a Scottish engineer and road-builder who invented the macadam road surface, a smooth hard surface. Subsequent improvements introduced the use of hot tar or asphalt cement to bind the road surface’s stones together.
* “Carneades! Who was he?”, said Don Abbondio to himself .
This line appears in “The Betrothed”, (“I Promessi Sposi”) , 1827, an Italian historical novel written by Alessandro Manzoni (the most widely read Italian novel, studied also at school). Don Abbondio is a mediocre priest who, while reading a book, meets the name of that Greek philosophers and wonders” Carneade! Chi era costui?”. Since then, in Italy, Carneade and the related question have become the symbol of an unknown or almost forgotten figure.
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