|Eduard C. Lindeman|
Eduard Lindeman is one of the great historical figures in adult education. He was born in St. Clair, Michigan, in 1885 of Danish immigrant parents. Orphaned at an early age, he worked his way from a series of labor intensive jobs to become one of the founding philosophers in the academic field. He wrote the landmark book, The Meaning of Adult Education, in 1926. This work was republished by Oklahoma Research Center for Continuing Professional and Higher Education in 1989. It is considered one of the most influential pioneer works of the field, expressing the conception of learning as a lifelong process.
Through his writings on adult education expressing only a small portion of his total work, and through his active involvement in adult education committees, associations, and programs, Lindeman both articulated and implemented a vision of adult education, which still constitutes the conceptual formation of the field of theory and practice in the United States.