Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta.
1745 - 1827.

In 1774 he became professor of physics at the Royal High School in Como, and in the following year, he devised the electrophorus, a device that, once electrically charged by having been rubbed, could transfer its electrical charge to other objects.

Between 1776 and 1778 he studied the chemistry of gases and discovered and isolated methane gas. He devised experiments such as the ignition of gases by an electric spark in a closed vessel. In 1779 he became professor of experimental physics at the University of Pavia, a chair he occupied for almost 40 years.

When Luigi Galvani's experiments with "animal electricity" were published in 1791 Volta began experiments that led him to theorize that animal tissue was not necessary for the conduction of electricity.

Proof of this theory was the Voltaic Pile or Battery, which Volta invented in 1800. The first battery was a series of metal disks of dissimilar kinds, separated by cardboard disks soaked with acid or salt solutions. This is the basis of all modern wet-cell batteries today and it was a tremendously important scientific discovery, because it was the first method found for the generation of a sustained electrical current.

Volta built different piles using up to sixty elements. This enabled him to study the action of the pile on the electric 'fluid'. He found that the electric shock increased in intensity with the number of elements used in the pile. If more than twenty elements were used it became painful.

The first piles Volta constructed comprised of alternating zinc and copper discs, each separated from its neighbor by a piece of cloth or card dampened by an acid solution. The column was supported by three vertical glass rods. He discovered that smaller cells could be connected 'one after the other' (series) to raise the level of electricity, rather than simply stacking more discs of metal and cardboard, as the pressure exerted by the upper discs would squeeze all of the liquid out of the cardboard seperators at the bottom of the column (effectivily causing an open circuit).

Voltas rejection of the idea of an "animal electric fluid" and the Galvani vs. Volta debate became one of the most interesting episodes in the history of science. It was devoid of personal animosity, because both Galvani and Volta were gentleman and friends, also they had high scientific principles. In fact, Volta, who generously coined the term galvanism, wrote that Galvani's work "contained one of the most beautiful and most surprising discoveries".

Upon demonstrating the workings of his voltaic pile to the French Academy of Science, he was made into a Count of Lombardy by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had dominated that part of Italy, in 1810. In 1815 the Emperor of Austria named him a professor of philosophy at Padua.

In 1816 Volta's works were published in five volumes in Florence and in 1881 an important electrical unit, the volt, was named after him in his honour.

Volta married Teresa Peregrini, the daughter of Count Ludovico Peregrini in 1794. They raised three sons together and each of them went on to try to improve on their fathers Voltaic Pile in ways that all, unfortunately, ended in dead ends.

Volta died on March 5, 1827 and is buried in the city of Como in Italy. The Tempio Voltiano (Voltian Temple) near Lake Como is a museum devoted to explaining his work, his original instruments and papers are on display there. The building appeared, along with his portrait, on the Italian 10,000 lira banknote before the introduction of the euro. Also there is the Villa Olmo, which houses the Voltian Foundation, an organization which promotes scientific activities. Volta Crater on the Moon is also named after him.