William Stanley Jevons and the climate of Australia

William Stanley Jevons published the first thorough and scientific study of the climate of Australia, in 1859, after only five years in Australia (working as an assayer for the Mint in Sydney). Excerpts from the Jevons study, along with comments on his conclusions from a late twentieth century perspective, are provided. Jevons was a most remarkable person, with an inexhaustible curiosity and a highly developed intuitive sense for recognising patterns in sparse datasets. Brief descriptions of Jevons's other contributions to economics, logic, the philosophy of science, statistics, and photography, are provided, along with some biographical information.