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George Adams was born the son of the Australian-German industrialist Georg von Kaufmann and the Englishwoman Mary Adams in Mariampolé in Lithuania, which was then Russian. Between 1912 and 1918, he studied chemistry (B.A.) and mathematics (M.A.) at the University of Cambridge, where he intensively explored the works of Whitehead and Russell. When he asked Russell how one could arrive at useful approaches in theoretical physics without the atomic hypothesis, he advised him to study projective geometry.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ziegler|first=Renatus|date=|title=George Adams Kaufmann|url=https://dokumentationen.kulturimpuls.org/biografien/16|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2024-04-01|website=Stiftung Kulturimpuls}}</ref>

George Adams was born the son of the Australian-German industrialist Georg von Kaufmann and the Englishwoman Mary Adams in Mariampolé in Lithuania, which was then Russian. Between 1912 and 1918, he studied chemistry (B.A.) and mathematics (M.A.) at the University of Cambridge, where he intensively explored the works of Whitehead and Russell. When he asked Russell how one could arrive at useful approaches in theoretical physics without the atomic hypothesis, he advised him to study projective geometry.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ziegler|first=Renatus|date=|title=George Adams Kaufmann|url=https://dokumentationen.kulturimpuls.org/biografien/16|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2024-04-01|website=Stiftung Kulturimpuls}}</ref>

In 1914, he became acquainted with Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy. In 1916 he joined the "Emerson" group of the Anthroposophical Society in London.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book| edition = 6| publisher = Verlag freies Geistesleben| isbn = 3-7725-0541-4| pages = 12–| last = George Adams| title = Wir erlebten Rudolf Steiner; Erinnerungen seiner Schüler| chapter = Rudolf Steiner in England| location = Stuttgart| date = 1980|editor=M. J. Krück von Poturzyn|lang=de}}</ref> Adams first met Steiner in Dornach in 1919.<ref name=":0" /> He had come into contact with him regarding an English translation of Steiner's book "Kernpunkte der sozialen Frage".<ref name=":1" /> Adams acted as interpreter at Steiner's lectures in England[4] and later translated numerous works by Steiner into English, e.g. Steiner's Agricultural Course.[5] In 1920 he attended the opening of the first Goetheanum with his wife Mary and also witnessed its destruction on New Year's Eve 1922/1923.<ref name=":0" /> He was particularly interested in Steiner's social threefolding.

In 1914, he became acquainted with Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy. In 1916 he joined the "Emerson" group of the Anthroposophical Society in London.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book| edition = 6| publisher = Verlag freies Geistesleben| isbn = 3-7725-0541-4| pages = 12–| last = George Adams| title = Wir erlebten Rudolf Steiner; Erinnerungen seiner Schüler| chapter = Rudolf Steiner in England| location = Stuttgart| date = 1980|editor=M. J. Krück von Poturzyn|lang=de}}</ref> Adams first met Steiner in Dornach in 1919.<ref name=":0" /> He had come into contact with him regarding an English translation of Steiner's book "Kernpunkte der sozialen Frage".<ref name=":1" /> Adams acted as interpreter at Steiner's lectures in England<ref>{{Cite journal| volume = 3| issue = 1| pages = 53–66| last = Paull| first = John| title = RUDOLF STEINER AND THE OXFORD CONFERENCE: THE BIRTH OF WALDORF EDUCATION IN BRITAIN| journal = European Journal of Educational Studies| date = 2011|url=https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/18835/|via=}}</ref> and later translated numerous works by Steiner into English, e.g. Steiner's Agricultural Course.[5] In 1920 he attended the opening of the first Goetheanum with his wife Mary and also witnessed its destruction on New Year's Eve 1922/1923.<ref name=":0" /> He was particularly interested in Steiner's social threefolding.

His own work dealt with questions of Goetheanism and projective geometry (also as a basis for understanding the etheric), partly together with his colleague Olive Whicher, who met him in 1935[6]. Elisabeth Vreede supported his mathematical approaches. In 1933 he published his essay on etheric space (Raum und Gegenraum) for the first time in the journal Natura, published by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum under Ita Wegman's direction, and soon afterwards also in English.<ref name=":0" /> His approach was to present the idea of space and counterspace on the basis of modern projective geometry in a spiritual scientific light.<ref name=":0" /> Louis Locher-Ernst published a similar approach a few years later in a more axiomatic and mathematical form.<ref name=":0" />

His own work dealt with questions of Goetheanism and projective geometry (also as a basis for understanding the etheric), partly together with his colleague Olive Whicher, who met him in 1935[6]. Elisabeth Vreede supported his mathematical approaches. In 1933 he published his essay on etheric space (Raum und Gegenraum) for the first time in the journal Natura, published by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum under Ita Wegman's direction, and soon afterwards also in English.<ref name=":0" /> His approach was to present the idea of space and counterspace on the basis of modern projective geometry in a spiritual scientific light.<ref name=":0" /> Louis Locher-Ernst published a similar approach a few years later in a more axiomatic and mathematical form.<ref name=":0" />