Alessandro Volta Presentation made by Jacopo Alaimo

Alessandro Volta

• Presentation made by Jacopo Alaimo

Early Life

• Alessandro Volta was born the 18th of February 1745 in

• Como, Italy.

• When he was in his teens, he decided to be a scientist. So in 1774,

• at the age of 30, he became a physics professor at the Royal School in

• Como. Then one year later, he was appointed professor of physics at

• the University of Pavia.

• In the years between 1776-78 he studied the chemistry of gases

• and descovered methane by reading a paper written by Benjamin

• Franklin on “flammable air”. In November, of 1776, he found methane

• at Lake Maggiore and then finally, in 1778, he managed to isolate

• methane.

Volta and Galvani

• In 1780 a friend of Volta’s, a scientist as him called Luigi

• Galvani, told him about an experiment that he had tried.

• Galvani explained that he was cutting up frogs and was holding their

• muscles up on a brass hook. One muscle had come in contact with

• some iron wire and it had twitched. Galvani thought that the muscle

• was producing its own electricity but Volta didn’t quite agree. In fact,

• he showed him that the contact was with the two different metals and

• not with the muscle and the wire. This contact with the hook and the

• wire made the muscle twitch.

Volta’s Experiment

• Volta did many experiments to find out about the electricity that could

• be produced. One of these experiments consisted in taking two piles

• of coins, each pile made of a different metal, and separated them

• with card soaked in a salt solution. This produced an electric current

• and was, in fact, the world’s first battery.

• Volta became very famous. Even Napoleon rewarded him by giving

• him the title of Count.

• Then at last, in 1827, he died at the age of 82 there in Como.

• Volta’s legacy is celebrated by a Temple located in the public gardens

• by the lake. It is also a museum which has been built in his honour

• and some of his original equipment is shown.

• The volt was then named after him in 1881.

• Furthermore, he was depicted upon the italian 10,000 Lire.

Of course, if Alessandro Volta didn’t invent the battery, the electric

• Of course, if Alessandro Volta didn’t invent the battery, the electric

• objects we have now could have not been used because without a

• battery these objects can’t work. So we are so lucky that Alessandro

• Volta was brought to light.

• The museums have immediately major renovations on the

• becentenial of the invention of the battery. To these were added

• several temporary exhibitions that have toured Italy, Europe and the

• world.