Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was an Italian physicist born in Como (Italy) on February 18, 1745. Volta is best known for his work in electricity, and in particular for having invented the first electric battery, to which he gave his name (the Volta battery). His name was also used to define the unit of measurement for electrical voltage: the volt. In chemistry, he discovered and isolated methane gas.
Portrait of Alessandro Volta
Voltaic battery
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1745: Alessandro Volta is born in Como, Italy.
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1769: Volta publishes his memoir on electricity De vi Attractiva Ignis Electric in Como.
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1775: Volta announces the invention of the electrophore, a capacitive generator used to generate electrostatic charges.
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1776: Volta pokes the muddy bottom of Lake Maggiore with a stick and sees gaseous bubbles rise and burst at the surface. He collected this gas (methane) and discovered that it was flammable.
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1793: Volta rejects Galvani's hypothesis of animal electricity: for him, organic tissue plays only a passive role, and it is the contact of 2 different metals that sets electricity in motion.
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1800: Volta develops his battery.
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1801: Volta presents his battery and formulates the law of voltages and his theory of galvanism.
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1816: Volta publishes his works in 5 volumes in Florence.
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1827: On March 5, physicist Alessandro Volta dies in Como.