Jacques Etienne Chevalley de Rivaz (16 August 1801 – 8 December 1863) was a Swiss-born physician who spent his career in Naples and the Island of Ischia.

In gratitude for his work, King Ferdinand II conferred on him a gold medal and a knighthood which allowed him to add "de Rivaz" to his name.

[2] King Ferdinand II and his family regularly spent the summer months on Ischia where Chevalley de Rivaz served as their personal physician.

These included the French novelist Alexandre Dumas, the Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin, and the Italian writer Marco Marcelliano Marcello.

Twenty years later he revised and published the poem with a lengthy dedication letter to Chevalley de Rivaz whom he credited with saving his life and being his "second father".

[2][7] Chevalley de Rivaz, who considered climatic conditions a major influence on his patients' recovery, set up a meteorological observatory on Ischia where he recorded the daily barometric pressure, temperature, wind direction, and humidity, and compared his data with that of Naples.

[8] Chevalley de Rivaz published articles in medical journals on an influenza epidemic in Naples, the value of vaccination against smallpox, and the treatment of cholera and syphilis.

Although the book concentrated on the analysis of the mineral waters and their use in the treatment of various diseases, it also contained detailed descriptions of the topography, customs, history, and archeology of the island, and for many years was the primary source of information about Ischia.

[2][9][10] In 1845 Chevalley de Rivaz attended the VII Riunione degli scienziati italiani [it], the seventh annual conference of Italian scientists, held that year in Naples.

In 1834 he had also made a detailed catalogue of the vascular plants of Ischia, entitled Flora pithecusana, ossia Catalogo alfabetico delle piante vascolari dell'isola d'Ischia.