Sir W. Arthur Lewis: Google dedicates doodle to Nobel laureate economist

Google today dedicates a beautiful doodle to Sir W. Arthur Lewis, who was a renowned economist and the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University. Sir William Arthur Lewis was awarded the Nobel Memorial Price in Economic Sciences in 1979.

Sir W. Arthur Lewis was born on January 23, 1915 in Castries, Saint Lucia. His parents had migrated from Antigua shortly after the turn of the century. He was a very intelligent and gifted student. He was promoted two classes ahead of his age.

Sir W. Arthur Lewis’ initial career was to become an engineer. Gradually, he took a turn to economics as the governments and companies of the West Indies, such as Saint Lucia, refused to hire blacks. At the age of 18, he would go on to earn a scholarship to attend the London School of Economics.

William Arthur Lewis served as an economic advisor to numerous African and Caribbean governments, like Ghana, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados. William Arthur was appointed as Ghana’s first economic advisor after the country gained independence in 1957.

Sir W. Arthur Lewis returned to the Caribbean region in 1959 and was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies. He was knighted for his contributions to economics in 1963.

In 1955, Sir W. Arthur Lewis published The Theory of Economic Growth in which he sought to “provide an appropriate framework for studying economic development,” driven by a combination of “curiosity and of practical need.”

Sir W. Arthur Lewis received the Nobel prize in Economics in 1979, sharing it with the famous American economist, Theodore Schultz. He died at the age of 76 on June 15, 1991 in Bridgetown, Barbados. He won many legacies and honors during his lifetime and posthumously.

Sir Arthur Lewis’s portrait appears on the 100 dollar East Caribbean Bill. Google today pays tribute to the globally-acclaimed and renowned Nobel laureate economist with a mesmerizing doodle.

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