A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DAlessandro (Count Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio) Volta : 1745 - 1827
The Italian physicist Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, (b. Feb. 18, 1745, d. Mar. 5, 1827), was the inventor of the voltaic pile, the first electric battery. In 1775 he invented the electrophorus, a device that, once electrically charged by having been rubbed, could transfer charge to other objects. Between 1776 and 1778, Volta discovered and isolated methane gas. When Luigi Galvani's experiments with "animal electricity" were published (1791), Volta began experiments that led him to theorize that animal tissue was not necessary for conduction of electricity. Proof of this theory was the battery, which Volta invented in 1800. Volta taught at Como Gymnasium (1775-78) and Pavia University (1778-1815). Napoleon made him a count in 1801. The unit of electric potential, the volt, is named in his honor.
Nel gennaio del 1880, Allessandro Volta, in seguito ad una polemica sulla teoria dell'elettricita' animale, sorta alcuni anni prima con Galvani, invento' il primo generatore di corrente elettrica continua: la pila. Da questo momento, grazie a questo strumento indispensabile, inizio' una nuova era della storia della fisica.
 Manoscritto sull'invenzione della pila inviato da Volta alla Royal Society di Londra
Alessandro Volta. Born in Como, Italy, into a noble family, Count Volta was a physicist and pioneer in the study of electricity. The volt named after Count Volta, is a unit of electric potential and electromotive force equal to 1.00034 times the International System unit. Count Volta also made discoveries in electrostatics, meteorology and pneumatics.
Alessandro Volta. Physicist, born in Como, Italy. He invented the electrophorus, a device to generate static eletricity (1775), discovered methane gas (1778), and was appointed professor of natural philosophy at Pavia (1778-1804). Inspired by the work of his friend Luigi Galvani, Volta investigated reactions between dissimilar metals, and developed the first electric battery (1800), providing future researchers with a constant source ofcurrent electricity. His name is given to the unit of electric potential, the volt.
In 1775 Alessandro Volta's interest in electricity led him to invent the electrophorus, a device used to generate static electricity. He became professor of physics at the Royal School of Como in 1774 and discovered and isolated methane gas in 1778. One year later he was appointed to the chair of physics at the University of Pavia. In 1780 Volta's friend Luigi Galvani discovered that contact of two different metals with the muscle of a frog resulted in the generation of an electric current. Volta began experimenting in 1794 with metals alone and found that animal tissue was not needed to produce a current. This finding provoked much controversy between the animal-electricity adherents and the metallic-electricity advocates, but, with his demonstration of the first electric battery in 1800, victory was assured for Volta. In 1801 in Paris, he gave a demonstration of his battery's generation of electric current before Napoleon, who made Volta a count and senator of the kingdom of Lombardy. The emperor of Austria made him director of the philosophical faculty at the University of Padua in 1815. The volt, a unit of the electromotive force that drives current, was named in his honour in 1881.
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