Lumen Summer 2016 - Flipbook - Page 10
story by Ian Williams
Distinguished Alumni Awards
Recognising our great achievers
An economist of global standing
A
leading international economist,
gregarious storyteller, unforgettable
teacher, fiery political activist and
above all, a compassionate human being
– Professor Emeritus Geoff Harcourt AO
is all of those and more.
This larger than life character spent
nearly 25 years at the University of Adelaide
from 1958 where his drive and passion
helped make the School of Economics
one of the most respected in Australia.
A graduate of the University of
Melbourne, he won travelling scholarships
to Cambridge University which
became his second home during a
distinguished academic career.
When I joined
the University it was
such a productive,
cooperative, collegiate
society under
Peter Karmel and I
worked very hard at
preserving that.
Photo courtesy of Aran
Anderson photography and
UNSW Business School
8 Lumen | Summer 2016
Since the 1950s Geoff has spent
part of every decade in Cambridge as
a student, lecturer or fellow, and has
cemented his reputation as a world
authority on pioneering British economist
John Maynard Keynes, and Keynes’
followers Richard Kahn, Austin and Joan
Robinson and Piero Sraffa.
Now retired in Sydney, Geoff still recalls
his time at the University of Adelaide with
great fondness and enthusiasm.
“When I joined the University it was such
a productive, cooperative, collegiate society
under Peter Karmel and I worked very hard
at preserving that,” says Geoff. “There
was a buzz about the place and I always
had an open door policy for everyone.”
During his career Geoff has published
more than 420 books and papers and
collected numerous prestigious awards.
In the US he was the first Australian
to become a Distinguished Fellow of the
History of Economics Society and to
win the Veblen-Commons Award of the
Association for Evolutionary Economics.
He is also an Honorary Member of the
European Society for the History of
Economic Thought, and a Distinguished
Fellow of the Economic Society of
Australia and the History of Economic
Thought Society of Australia.
All very impressive but, according to
sports mad Geoff, his greatest achievement
was being made a life member of the
University of Adelaide’s ‘The Blacks’
Australian Rules Football Club.
Now 84, Geoff and wife Joan are
celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary
with parties in Australia and England.
Three of their children, Wendy, Robert and
Tim, are graduates of the University of
Adelaide and Rebecca is a graduate of
De Montfort and Goldsmiths in the UK.
