Sir W. Arthur Lewis: Google celebrates economist, professor with doodle
Sir W. Arthur Lewis won a government scholarship in 1932 despite facing challenges with racial discrimination.
Sir W. Arthur Lewis Google Doodle: Google is celebrating St. Lucian economist, professor, and author Sir W. Arthur Lewis, who is considered as one of the pioneers in the field of modern development economics, with its doodle on Thursday. Its illustrated by Manchester-based guest artist Camilla Ru.
Forty-one years ago on this day in 1979, Lewis was jointly awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his pioneering work to model the economic forces that impact developing countries.
A trailblazer not only in his research, Lewis was also the first Black faculty member at the London School of Economics, first Black person to hold a chair in a British university (at Manchester University), and the first Black instructor to receive full professorship at Princeton University.
Born on January 23, 1915, in Castries on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, at the time a British colony, Lewis won a government scholarship in 1932 despite facing challenges with racial discrimination.
He went to study at the London School of Economics, where he eventually earned a doctorate in industrial economics. Lewis quickly ascended the ranks of academia and by 33 was a full professor—one of the highest distinctions of a tenured professor.
Lewis shifted his focus to world economic history and economic development and in 1954 published his foundational article “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour.” Among many valuable accomplishments, Lewis contributed influential work to the United Nations and shared his expertise as an adviser to governments in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. He also helped establish and served as the first president of the Caribbean Development Bank.
In honor of his lifelong achievements, the British government knighted Lewis in 1963.
He breathed his last on June 15, 1991 in Bridgetown, Barbados and was buried in the grounds of the St. Lucian community college named in his honour.
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Image Source:indianexpress.com
Source:indianexpress.com
