Birthday profile

Arthur Lewis

Saint Lucian economist (1915–1991)

Born
January 23, 1915
Died
June 15, 1991
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1915

About Arthur Lewis

Sir William Arthur Lewis (23 January 1915 – 15 June 1991) was a Saint Lucian economist and the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University. Lewis remains the only black person to have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. W. Arthur Lewis was a pioneering development economist, especially famous for his “dual-sector model” of economic development. In his 1954 paper “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour,” he described a poor country as having two sectors: a traditional (largely agricultural) sector with surplus labor, and a modern capitalist sector. Lewis showed how surplus labor could be transferred from the traditional sector into the capitalist sector, fueling industrial growth. After Lewis graduated in 1937 with first-class honours, LSE gave him a scholarship to read for a PhD in industrial economics, under the supervision of Arnold Plant. Lewis would become the first black faculty member at LSE: in 1938 he was given a teaching appointment, and in 1939 was made an Assistant Lecturer, continuing to work as a member of the LSE staff until 1948.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Arthur Lewis timeline

  1. After Lewis graduated in 1937 with first-class honours, LSE gave him a scholarship to read for a PhD in industrial economics, under the supervision of Arnold Plant.
  2. Lewis would become the first black faculty member at LSE: in 1938 he was given a teaching appointment, and in 1939 was made an Assistant Lecturer, continuing to work as a member of the LSE staff until 1948.

The world when Arthur Lewis was born

Arthur Lewis was born in 1915. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1915

  • Top movieThe Birth of a Nation
  • Best-selling book"The Turmoil" – Booth Tarkington

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJess Willard defeats Jack Johnson for heavyweight title in Havana
  • Top headlineLusitania sunk by German submarine — 1,198 die
  • Technology milestoneFirst transcontinental telephone call (Bell to Watson)
  • World population~1.75B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWoodrow Wilson
  • U.S. population98.4M

1915 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Arthur Lewis's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19152026
Gas$0.25$3.45/gal
Movie ticket$0.10$11.95
Population98.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.