Google celebrated the life and works of world renowned economist and professor Sir W. Arthur Lewis, widely credited as one of the pioneers in the field of modern development economics, with a doodle today. 10th December marks the day when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979 for his pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries.
The doodle shows a smiling professor Lewis with a blackboard in the background, on which are written the words ‘GOOGLE.’
Born on 23 January 1915, Castries, British West Indies (now Saint Lucia), Lewis was a gifted student. In 1932, he won a government scholarship and set out to study at the London School of Economics after overcoming many hurdles related to racial discrimination. He also earned a doctorate in industrial economics and started his career in the field of academics.
He was the first Black faculty member at the London School of Economics, the 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.
In his career, he also served as an economic advisor to the governments of Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, and Barbados.
As a tribute to his lifelong achievements, the British government knighted Lewis in 1963. It was in the same year that he was appointed a University Professor at Princeton University and moved to the United States.
The interesting doodle was illustrated by Manchester-based guest artist Camilla Ru.
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