Volta, Alessandro

Volta, Alessandro (Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio)

(born Feb. 18, 1745, Como, Lombardy—died March 5, 1827, Como) Italian scientist. In 1775 he invented the electrophorus, a device used to generate static electricity. He taught physics at the University of Pavia (1779–1804). After Luigi Galvani in 1780 produced an electric current by connecting two different metals with the muscle of a frog, Volta began experimenting in 1794 with metals alone and found that animal tissue was not needed to produce current. He demonstrated the first electric battery in 1800. In 1801 he demonstrated the battery's generation of current before Napoleon, who made him a count and senator of the kingdom of Lombardy. In 1815 he was appointed director of the philosophical faculty at the University of Padua. The volt was named in his honour in 1881.