Google celebrates renowned economist and professor Sir Arthur Lewis

10 Dec 2020

Today's Google Doodle is Sir Arthur Lewis, who was a lecturer at the Victoria University of Manchester

It's 41 years today (10 December) since Sir William Arthur Lewis was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize for economics.

Born in St Lucia in 1915, he won a scholarship to study at the London School of Economics and subsequently studied for his PhD and continued to work there until he moved to Manchester in 1948. While he taught at Manchester, he developed some of his most important concepts about the patterns of capital and wages in developing countries. He particularly became known for his contributions to development economics, of great interest as former colonies began to gain independence from European nations.

After ten years in Manchester, he became economic advisor to several Caribbean and African governments. In 1959 Lewis was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies. In 1963 he was knighted for his contributions to economics, and moved to Princeton University in America before his retirement two decades later.

His considerable achievements are acknowledged on our campus through the Arthur Lewis Building, which sits at the heart of our campus and where our School of Social Sciences is based.