NATIONAL UNIVERCITY OF COLOMBIA

MANIZALES

MARIO FERNANDO LAGOS VINUEZA

809032

CARLOS O. VALENCIA THEACHER

MANIZALES JUNE, 01 OF 2009

Count Alessandro Volta

Biography

(1745 - 1827) (1745 - 1827)

Born in Como, Italy, into a noble family, Count Volta was a physicist and
pioneer in the study of electricity. "Volt," named after Count Volta, is a
measurement of electricity. Count Volta also made discoveries in
electrostatics, meteorology and pneumatics.

Inventions and Discoveries

His most famous invention, however, is the first battery. The idea came
from Luigi Galvani, an anatomist. Galvani was dissecting a frog when the
frog's leg began to twitch Galvani thought was because of some type of
electrical action in the vicinity, such as lightening Volta tried to duplicate
the experiment, and he did on a clear day when there was no lightening.
Through experimentation, Volta realized that the two different metal
objects holding the frog leg might be the source of the action. Over a
period of several years he worked out that the wet muscle tissue
conducted a current between the two different types of metals. Around
1800, he invented a wet battery called a Voltaic Pile. The Voltaic Pile
consisted of discs of copper and zinc separated by discs of paper or
cardboard (soaked in salt water).

In 1775, Volta improved and popularized the electrophorus , a device

that produces a static electric charge. His promotion of it was so
extensive that he is often credited with its invention, even though a
machine operating in the same principle was described in 1762 by
Swedish professor Johan Carl Wilcke.

Honors

In honor of his work in the field of electricity , Napoleon Bonaparte made

him a count in 1810; in 1815 the Emperor of Austria named him a
professor of philosophy at Padua. Before 1796, Lombardy was ruled by
Austria. From 1796 to 1815, Lombardy came under Napoleon's rule. After
1815, Lombardy was once again under Austrian rule. Thus Volta was
once a subject of the Emperor of Austria, later a subject of Napoleon and
then later a subject of the Emperor of Austria again. Volta is buried in the
city of Como . At the Templo Voltiano near Lake Como there is a
museum devoted to explaining his work.