The man who gave us the battery

Count Alessandro Volta is known as the battery inventor. Born in Como, Lombardy, Italy in 1745, he worked as a public school physics teacher and in 1774 became a professor of physics at the Royal School in Como, and continued in this post until his retirement in 1819. In honour of Volta’s work, he was made a count by Napoleon in 1810 and the electric unit known as the volt is named after him. He died in 1827.

Count Volta made several inventions during his career, including the electrophorus, a device which when rubbed can transfer the charge this produces to other objects, and the remotely operated pistol, a forerunner to the principle of the electric telegraph, which also uses current to communicate. He also discovered and isolated methane gas.

But he is best known for his development of the voltaic pile in 1800, which was the first device to produce a reliable, steady current of electricity and is the predecessor to our modern electric battery.

The first battery – the voltaic pile

Batteries are devices which generate electricity as a result of chemical reactions between their components. The Count’s voltaic pile consisted of alternating discs of zinc and copper separated by cardboard soaked in brine (saltwater). The chemical reaction produced electrons which flowed between the dissimilar metals to produce electrical current.

The legacy

Count Volta’s invention gave us the basis for today’s multitude of battery types. From his original voltaic cell has developed has huge range of batteries and you will be familiar with many of their common usages. You need only look at Battery Life to appreciate just how much they contribute to our modern lifestyle and to keep abreast of continuing development in the technology.