In a bid to celebrate St. Lucian economist, professor, and author Sir W Arthur Lewis, Google on Thursday, December 10, created a doodle and put it up on its homepage.
Considered as one of the pioneers of modern development economics, 41 years ago today, in the year 1979, Sir W Arthur Lewis was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his efforts to model the economic forces that impact developing countries.
He was also the first Black faculty member at the London School of Economics, first Black person to hold a chair in a British university, and the first Black instructor to receive full professorship at Princeton University.
Google pays a tribute
With both parents working as school teachers, Sir W Arthur Lewis was born on January 23, 1915, in the Caribbean island of St Lucia. In the year 1932, he won a scholarship and went to study at the London School of Economics.
Despite facing racial discrimination, he decided to become a full time professor.
Also, he contributed to the United Nations and helped establish and served as the first president of the Caribbean Development Bank.
He shifted his focus to world economic history and economic development and in the year 1954, he published his foundational article “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour”.
He also shared his expertise as an adviser to governments in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. To honour his lifetime achievements, the British government knighted Lewis in 1963.
