Alessandro Volta Born: Inventor of the Electric Battery

Alessandro Volta built the world's first battery in 1800 by stacking alternating discs of zinc and silver separated by brine-soaked cloth. Born on February 18, 1745, in Como, in the Duchy of Milan, Volta was a physicist and chemist who spent decades studying electrical phenomena before making his most famous discovery. His early work included the development of the electrophorus, a device for generating static electricity, and the discovery of methane in the marshes of Lake Maggiore, which he demonstrated by collecting gas in bottles and igniting it with an electric spark. The voltaic pile, as his battery came to be known, grew out of a dispute with Luigi Galvani, who believed that the electrical impulses he observed in frog legs were produced by the animal tissue itself, a force he called "animal electricity." Volta disagreed, arguing that the electricity was generated by the contact between two different metals in the presence of moisture. He was right. The voltaic pile proved it. He wrote a letter describing the device to the Royal Society of London, and the announcement created an immediate sensation across European scientific circles. Napoleon, who was then establishing French dominance in Italy, read the paper and summoned Volta to Paris to demonstrate the device before the Institut de France. Napoleon was so impressed that he awarded Volta a gold medal and eventually made him a count. The practical implications were enormous. Within a few years, the battery enabled the discovery of electrolysis, which allowed scientists to isolate new chemical elements. The telegraph, electroplating, and eventually the entire field of electrical engineering all trace their origins to the voltaic pile. The unit of electrical potential, the volt, carries his name. He died on March 5, 1827, in Como, the same city where he was born.