[ASC-media] Jevons symposium at the Powerhouse Museum

[Shore, Jesse]

This may interest the science minded historians out there:

The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney is holding symposium on the 29th October,
examining the life and work of William Stanley Jevons. It will coincide
with the opening of a new exhibition The Curious Economist: William
Stanley Jevons in Sydney.

Jevons, who would later find fame an economist, logician, statistician
and philosopher of science, lived in Sydney between 1854 and 1859,
working as an assayer at the Sydney Mint. In his spare time he walked
through the city and surrounding districts recording the local geology,
botany and meteorology, observing the organisation of the city to
compile his 'social survey', and taking photographs. 

This symposium will appeal to those interested in early photography,
Sydney social history and the histories of science and social science,
economics and logic. 

The program of the symposium follows:

THE CURIOUS ECONOMIST: WILLIAM STANLEY JEVONS IN SYDNEY

A Powerhouse Museum Symposium
Presented in association with Monash University

29 October 2004
2004 marks the 150th anniversary of William Stanley Jevons' arrival in
Sydney. Jevons was born in Liverpool, England.  He studied chemistry in
London, and came to New South Wales at the age of 19 to work at the
Sydney Mint.  The Gold Rush was in full swing, and his job was to assess
the quality and purity of the precious metal from the diggings.  This
work put him in a unique position, at the intersection of geology,
chemistry, economics and industry.  Wanting to document as many aspects
of life in Australia as he could, Jevons also took up photography, even
taking his camera equipment to the goldfields.  After five years in
Sydney, Jevons returned to England, where he became one of the leading
figures in the field of Economics. 

The Powerhouse Museum is opening an exhibition on William Stanley Jevons
in Sydney on 29 October.  The Symposium is designed to both accompany
and enhance the exhibition, but also as a stand-alone event that will
extend knowledge not just of Jevons' work in Sydney, but other aspects
of the history of colonial life in New South Wales in the 1850s as well.


Date:	Friday 29 October 2004
	
Location:	Powerhouse Museum
	500 Harris Street, Ultimo

Bookings essential:	Tel: 02 9217 0222 or
	Email: edserv at phm.gov.au

Registration fee:	$40 adult
Includes morning tea &	$30 Powerhouse Members
               afternoon tea		$25 concessions 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
Friday 29 October 2004

8.30am - 9.30am
Registration and viewing of exhibition

9.30am
Welcome 	
	
Introduction
	Mike White 
	Senior Lecturer
	Department of Economics
	Monash University

10.00 - 11.00am
Keynote Address
	Harro Maas
	Associate Professor
	Faculty of Economics
	University of Amsterdam

11.00- 11.30am	Morning tea

Morning session - 11.30am to 12.30pm

'The unsociable photographer'

Chair
	Lindsay Barrett
	Senior Lecturer
	School of Humanities
	University of Western Sydney

Bush Christmas: a photographic trip to the Blue Mountains and Braidwood
	Geoff Barker
	Curator
	Photographic Archives
	Macleay Museum
	The University of Sydney

Jevons' colleagues at the Sydney Mint: making the "unsociable
sociologist" "passably social"
	Megan Martin
	Manager
Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection
	Historic Houses Trust NSW

12.30 - 1.30pm	Lunch (not provided)

Afternoon session - 1.30 - 3.00pm

'Science, music and the weather'
Chair
	Mike White

William Stanley Jevons and Meteorology
	Neville Nicholls
	Group Leader
	Climate Forecasting Group
	Bureau of Meteorology
	Research Centre

Jevons' Logic Piano and the 'Future of Logic'
	Matthew Connell
	Curator
	Computing and Mathematics
	Powerhouse Museum

Music in Jevons' universe of thought
	Jamie Kassler
	Fellow
Australian Academy of Humanities

3.00 - 3.30pm	Afternoon tea

Final session - 3.30 to 5.00pm

'Pattern recognition'
Chair
	Matthew Connell

The Calculating Assayer: Political Economy in Jevons' anitpodean
interlude
	Mike White
	Senior Lecturer
	Economics Department
	Monash University

The Polymathic Chiffrephile: Jevons as scholar and scientist
	Ian Castles 
	Visiting Fellow
Asia Pacific School of 
Economics and Government
	Australian National University

Close

Exhibition sponsored by Arab Bank Australia.  With support from Reserve
Bank of Australia, NSW Department of Lands, NSW Treasury and Monash
University.