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Watt, William Shand (1876 - 1958)
Go to Gallery Page Watt, William Shand
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Mining engineer and Meteorologist
Born: 2 January 1876  Green Island, Dunedin, New Zealand.  Died: 15 April 1958  Brighton, Victoria, Australia.
William Shand Watt joined the newly formed Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology as Tasmanian divisional officer in 1911 and eventually rose to become Commonwealth meteorologist, a post he held from 1931 until his retirement in 1940.
Career Highlights
William Shand Watt had been assistant to Henry Hunt and was appointed as Commonwealth Meteorologist following successful appeal against the promotion of Henry Barkly. He presided over a difficult period for the Bureau with little support for its scientific development and little awareness in government of the imminent need for major expansion to meet the needs of civil aviation and subsequently the war effort. He participated in the 1935 IMO (International Meteorological Organization) Conference of Directors in Warsaw and the 1937 meeting of IMO Regional Association V (South West Pacific) in Wellington. A Hundred Years of Science and Service, Bureau of Meteorology, 2001.

Chronology
1900Associateship in Mining and Certificate of Metallurgical Chemistry and Assaying completed at the Otago School of Mines, New Zealand
1902Associateship in Metallurgy completed at the Otago School of Mines, New Zealand
c. 1904 - 1911Lecturer in Mining Engineering at the Zeehan School of Mines in Tasmania
1911 - 1921Tasmanian Divisional Officer for the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology
1921 - 1927Head of the Climatological Section of the Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne
1927 - 1931Assistant Director of the Bureau
1931 - 1940Commonwealth Meteorologist

 
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Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Rosanne Walker
Created: 30 June 1997
Modified: 4 September 2006
Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007
Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre
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Updated: 26 February 2007
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P002726b.htm
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