“Let your curiosity drive you”- Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee during the Live Class on Unacademy
New Delhi: Unacademy, India’s largest learning platform, today hosted a Live Class by Abhijit Banerjee – the noted Indian American economist and the Nobel Prize Winner for Economic Sciences in 2019, as part of its Legends on Unacademy program. Over 20,000 learners attended the session on Unacademy making it a remarkable success.
Abhijit Banerjee, who is also the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), covered various aspects of his academic journey during the Live Class. The natural flair that he has for teaching enabled him to conduct a seamless and inspiring session for the learners. He emphasized on his real life experiences and inspirations right from his early days in Kolkata to winning the Nobel Prize in 2019.
During the 45 minute session, Abhijit Banerjee shared various anecdotes from his long professional journey and stressed upon the importance of being open and willing to try new things rather than scripting one’s life. He spoke at length about how students must be passionate and committed towards whatever task they undertake, the importance of enjoying themselves while working on anything and letting their curiosity drive them.
Key insights that Abhijit Banerjee shared during the Live Class:
Studying Economics was not an option but a contingency plan after he left mathematics
He had no idea that Randomized Controlled Trials would get him a Nobel prize
His books are full of insights which he has gained through his work
He taught development economics at Princeton University and Harvard University
There is no specific formula to success. Whatever you aim to do, you should do it with passion and it should make you happy
One of the mantras to success would be never to give up, no matter how many times you fail
You need to be extremely committed to what you do in order to achieve success. You can be committed to your work only if you enjoy doing it
Try to find out what keeps you going. Do not worry about always being at the top
Try and search for unconventional opportunities to contribute to the society
The most important lesson that we have learned during this pandemic is fragility
Humans have done enough violence to nature and now it’s fighting back. We must address issues such as climate change immediately or else we will face a situation much worse than the COVID-19 pandemic
The younger generation has the opportunity to do immense good going forward
All of us need to be more focused on the welfare of the society
Earlier in March, Unacademy announced the commencement of the ‘Legends on Unacademy’ program with the idea of bringing legends from different walks of life to teach life lessons through Live Classes. In March, these Live Classes were conducted by legendary cricketers such as Brian Lara, Brett Lee and Jonty Rhodes, through the association with the Unacademy Road Safety World Series. In April, renowned personalities like Shashi Tharoor, Kiran Bedi, Virat Kohli, and Anushka Sharma took Live Classes to inspire learners on the platform. Additionally, the recently concluded sessions include the ones with Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, Zev Siegl and Mary Kom.