By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: December 10, 2020 9:44:41 am
Sir W. Arthur Lewis won a government scholarship in 1932 despite facing challenges with racial discrimination.
Sir W. Arthur Lewis Google Doodle: Google celebrates Saint Lucian economist, professor and author Sir W. Arthur Lewis, considered one of the pioneers in the field of modern development economics, with his doodle on Thursday. It is illustrated by Manchester-based guest artist Camilla Ru.
Forty-one years ago on this day in 1979, Lewis jointly received the Nobel Prize in Economics for his pioneering work in modeling the economic forces impacting developing countries.
A pioneer not only in his research, Lewis was also the first black faculty member at the London School of Economics, the first black person to hold a chair at a British university (at the University of Manchester), and the first black instructor. to receive a full professorship at Princeton University.
Born on January 23, 1915 in Castries on the Caribbean island of Saint 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 obtained a doctorate in industrial economics. Lewis quickly rose through the ranks of the academy and, at age 33, was a full professor, one of the highest distinctions of a full professor.
Lewis shifted his focus to world economic history and economic development and in 1954 published his seminal article “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labor.” Among many worthwhile accomplishments, Lewis contributed influential work to the United Nations and shared his experience as an advisor 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 lifetime achievements, the British government knighted Lewis in 1963.
He took his last breath on June 15, 1991 in Bridgetown, Barbados and was buried on the grounds of the St. Lucian Community College named in his honor.
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