Volta, Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio

Lead Author: Cutler J. Cleveland (other articles)
Article Topics: Energy and Energy people
This article has been reviewed and approved by the following Topic Editor: Peter Saundry (other articles)
Last Updated: March 9, 2007

Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (1745-1827), an Italian physicist, is known for his pioneering work in electricity. He investigated the "animal electricity" of Galvani, and found that the current was generated from the contact of dissimilar metals, and that the frog leg was only acting as a detector. Using this information, he constructed the first battery to produce electricity (1800). Volta's method of stacking round plates of copper and zinc separated by disks of cardboard moistened with salt solution was called a Voltaic pile. In honor of his work in the field of electricity, Napoleon made him a count in 1801. The electrical unit known as the volt was named in his honor.

Further Reading
Brief Volta Biography Michigan Tech Chemistry Department
Gallery of Electromagnetic Personalities University of Maryland

Citation
Cleveland, Cutler (Lead Author); Peter Saundry (Topic Editor). 2007. "Volta, Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [Published in the Encyclopedia of Earth March 9, 2007; Retrieved July 20, 2008]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Volta,_Alessandro_Giuseppe_Antonio_Anastasio>
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