Historical Figures Codexery

Alessandro Volta

Pioneer of electricity and inventor of the electric battery

Alessandro Volta was an Italian chemist and physicist who invented the electric battery and discovered methane.[1] He was born in Como, Italy on 18 February 1745 and died there on 5 March 1827.[2][3] The volt, which is the SI unit for electric potential, honors Volta.[4]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta
Born
18 February 1745
Birthplace
Como, Duchy of Milan
Died
5 March 1827
Place of death
Como, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, Austrian Empire
Known for
  • Improving the electrophorus (1775)
  • Discovering methane (1776)
  • Inventing the voltaic pile (1799)
Term
1779–1819
Spouse
Teresa Peregrini (1794)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Napoleon Bonaparte made Volta a count in 1810 and invited him to demonstrate his invention at the Institute of France.[5][6] In 1774, Volta started teaching physics as a professor at Como's Royal School.[7] Volta created the voltaic pile in 1799 and communicated his findings to the Royal Society during 1800.[8] By inventing the voltaic pile, Volta demonstrated that chemical processes could generate electricity, contradicting the earlier belief that only living creatures produced it.[8]

For close to four decades, Volta occupied the position of experimental physics professor at the University of Pavia.[5] In 1819, Volta stepped down from his work and moved to his property in Camnago, a location that is today referred to as Camnago Volta.[3] Beginning in 1823, Volta suffered from multiple health issues that ultimately caused his death.[4]

What the cited sources add

These include electrophores, straw electroscopes, electrometers, and a Franklin plate capacitor that Volta used.[9] Copies of Volta's battery are displayed there because the originals were destroyed in a Como fire in 1899.[9] The room also contains Volta's pistols and an apparatus for studying gas dilation.[9] Volta determined the isobaric dilation law ten years before Gay-Lussac.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Alessandro Volta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pancaldi, "Volta, Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment", Princeton Univ. Press, 2003; Alberto Gigli Berzolari, "Volta's Teaching in Como and Pavia" - Nuova voltiana; Hall of Fame, Edison. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Alessandro Volta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Life and works", Alessandrovolta.info; R. Cecchini and G. Pelosi, "Alessandro Volta and his battery," in IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 30-37, April 1992, doi: 10.1109/74 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Alessandro Volta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Volta", Institute of Chemistry – Jerusalem; "Volta's localities", September 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Alessandro Volta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Munro, John, "Pioneers of Electricity; Or, Short Lives of the Great Electricians", The Religious Tract Society, 1902, p. 89–102 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Alessandro Volta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Munro, John, "Pioneers of Electricity; Or, Short Lives of the Great Electricians", The Religious Tract Society, 1902, p. 89–102; Munro, John, "Pioneers of Electricity; Or, Short Lives of the Great Electricians", The Religious Tract Society, 1902, p. 89–102 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Alessandro Volta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Alessandro G.A.A. Volta (1745–1827)", Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences; Pancaldi, "Volta, Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment", Princeton Univ. Press, 2003 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Alessandro Volta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pancaldi, "Volta, Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment", Princeton Univ. Press, 2003; Joh. Carl Wilcke (1762) "Ytterligare rön och försök om contraira electriciteterne vid laddningen och därtil hörande delar" (Additional findings and experiments (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Alessandro Volta" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Milestones:Volta's Electrical Battery Invention, 1799", ETHW, 12 February 2020; "Enterprise and electrolysis", rsc.org; Volta, "On the Electricity excited by the mere Contact of conducting Substances of different kinds.", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 20 March 1800, p. 403–431 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "Sala Volta", Musei Unipv. facts only, no text reused. museoperlastoria.unipv.it

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Alessandro Volta (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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