Google honours St Lucian economist Sir W. Arthur Lewis with ‘doodle’

Google is honouring St. Lucian economist, professor, and renowned author Sir W. Arthur Lewis, who is recognised as one of the pathfinders in the field of contemporary development economics

10th of December 2020

St Lucia: Google is honouring St. Lucian economist, professor, and renowned author Sir W. Arthur Lewis, who is recognised as one of the pathfinders in the field of contemporary development economics, with its doodle on Thursday. Its displays by Manchester-based patron artist Camilla Ru.

Forty-one years before on this date in 1979, Lewis was collectively conferred the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his pioneering contribution to model the economic powers that affect developing nations.

A trailblazer not just in his research, Lewis was likewise the first Black staff member at the London School of Economics, first Black body to take a seat in a British university (at Manchester University), and the first Black professor to assume a full professorship at Princeton University.

Born on January 23, 1915, in Castries on the Caribbean isle of St. Lucia, at the moment a British colony, Lewis obtained a government scholarship in 1932 despite encountering challenges with racial hatred.

He continued to study at the London School of Economics, where he ultimately earned a doctorate in industrial economics. Lewis briskly mounted the ranks of academia and by 33 was a full professor—one of the most significant characteristics of a tenured professor.

Lewis moved his focus to global economic history and economic development and in 1954 issued his foundational feature “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour.” Amongst many worthy achievements, Lewis added substantial work to the United Nations and administered his expertise as an adviser to authorities in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. He also assisted in establishing and served as the first president of the Caribbean Development Bank.

In honour of his lifetime accomplishments, the British government knighted Lewis in 1963.

He exhaled his last breath on June 15, 1991 in Bridgetown, Barbados and was buried in the soils of the St. Lucian community college marked in his good honour.

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