Alessandro Volta

The genius who created CONTINUOUS CURRENT Alessandro Volta

This Italian inventor’s enthusiasm for electricity produced the world’s ultimate power source.

The taller the stack, the more electric current is generated. Did you know? Electric power inside a battery is measured in volts, named after Volta.

Bright spark

As a teenager, Alessandro Volta corresponded with physicist Giambattista Beccaria. He encouraged Volta to learn by experimentation. In 1791, Volta’s friend Luigi Galvani noticed that a frog’s legs twitched when they touched different metals, but mistook this for electricity inside living cells. Volta realized the frog was the conductor for electricity generated by the metal, so he experimented with what he called METALLIC ELECTRICITY. Cardboard soaked in acid or salt water is called the electrolyte.

In his frog experiment, Galvani discovered that a pair of different metals produced electricity. Zinc and copper discs are called electrodes.

What came after…

Before inventing the famous Bunsen burner, German scientist Robert Bunsen designed the zinc-carbon cell, called the Bunsen Battery, in 1841. In 1859, French physicist Gaston Planté invented the lead-acid battery, the world’s

first mass-produced rechargeaBle Battery.

Years of experiments produced the FIRST ELECTRIC BATTERY in 1800. Volta achieved this using discs of copper and zinc for the two metals and cardboard soaked in acid or salt water instead of frog’s legs. When piled up, the metals react with the solution, allowing electricity to flow through the multiple layers. He named his invention the Voltaic pile, and demonstrated it by firing a pistol powered by electricity.

Volta’s statue at the University of Pavia, Italy

By the way… Impressed by my demonstration of the battery, French emperor Napoleon I made me a nobleman. Awards and achievements Volta spent a lifetime working on electricity. He became a fellow of the Royal Society of London, earning the top prize of the Copley Medal in 1794 for his remarkable scientific achievements. He was also CHAIR OF EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS at the University of Pavia in Italy for four decades.

Volta’s battery provided the first useful way to generate an electricity supply, opening doors for other scientists to use electricity for their own inventions. How he changed the world

The first dry battery was developed by German scientist Carl Gassner in 1886 using paste instead of liquid. This was similar to modern carbon-zinc batteries. In 1899, the first electric torch, or flashlight, was created by Russian inventor Conrad Hubert. This small portable device was patented in 1903.