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Born
Alessandro was born in Como, Italy -
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Life
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Writing His First Scientific Paper
Volta wrote his first scientific paper, which he addressed to Giambatista Beccaria, about static electricity generated by rubbing different substances together -
Adulthood
Volta had reached 20 years of age. His wealthy friend Giulio Cesare Gattoni had built a physics laboratory in his home. For several years he kindly allowed Volta to do experiments in this laboratory. -
Publishing An Important Subjected Essay
Volta published an essay titled On the Attractive Force of the Electric Fire, and on the Phenomena Dependent On It, which he sent to Beccaria. He discussed his ideas on the causes of electrical attraction and repulsion and compared these with gravity. He set out his position that, like gravity, static electricity involved action at a distance. The main scientists influencing his thinking were Isaac Newton, Roger Boscovich, Benjamin Franklin and Giambatista Beccaria himself. -
Inventing An Eudiometer
Volta invented a much better eudiometer than any that had gone before. A eudiometer tests how much oxygen is present in air to determine how good for breathing it is. Volta’s eudiometer was superior to others because it used hydrogen as the gas reacting with oxygen, giving a clean, reliable reaction. The reaction was also cleanly started using an electric spark. -
Building Increasingly Sensitive Electroscopes
Volta built increasingly sensitive electroscopes to detect and measure the effects of electric charge. -
Studied Behavior of Gasses
Volta carried out experiments on the behavior of gases. He found an accurate value for air’s increasing volume with rising temperature -
Elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of London
Recognizing that he had become one of Europe’s foremost electrical scientists, Volta was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. -
Awarded Royal Society's Top Prize
At the age of 50, Volta was awarded the Royal Society’s top prize – the Copley Medal – for his contributions to scientific understanding of electricity. -
Inventing the First Electric Battery
Invented the first electric battery – which people then called the “voltaic pile” – in 1800. Using his invention, scientists were able to produce steady flows of electric current for the first time, unleashing a wave of new discoveries and technologies. (date not specifically correct {Sorry}) -
Died
Volta Passed Away In, Como, Italy 1827 -
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