the Kingdom of Italy. In 1810, Napoleon gave me a title, Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio, a high honour indeed for a self-taught scientist.
A Voltaic Pile – the first electric battery
The Volta Temple, Como
Outside of work, I lived a relatively quiet life and in 1813, I moved on from lecturing. My aim was to continue the search to advance the understanding and application of physics. In addition, I wanted to help the new generation of innovators to do further research into electrochemistry. I was made Professor of Philosophy at Padua University in 1815. By the time I was 74, in 1819, my health was not good and I decided it was time I retired.
In 1827 when I was 82, I died at my home in Como surrounded by my family – my wife and our two sons. At the time of my death, there were many young men who followed on from me: Michael Faraday, 28 years of age, George Ohm, 30 years old and Joseph Henry who was 22 years of age, are just a few of them. I never met these new inventors but their discoveries, and the knowledge of electricity they inherited from scientists of my generation, were the foundation for the Industrial Revolution.
The Life of Alessandro Volta
| 1745 | Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was born on 18th February in Como, Italy. |
| 1752 | Alessandro’s father died. |
| 1760 | He enrolled in the school in Como to study natural philosophy. Alessandro also studied many languages including Latin, French, English, Dutch, Spanish, Russian and Greek. |
| 1763 | Alessandro was interested in physics and chemistry. He began to write to the Abbé Jean-Antoine Nollet, in Paris, and later to Professor Giovanni Battista Beccaria, at the University of Turin, on the subject of electricity. |
| 1769 | He published De vi attractive ignis electrici (On the attractive force of electric fire). |
| 1774 | Alessandro was appointed Director and then Professor of Physics at the Royal School, Como, Italy. The following year, he improved an invention that produced a static electric charge called the electrophorus. |
| 1776–1778 | Alessandro focused his study on the chemistry of gases. He discovered methane. He also studied electrical potential and charge, from which the Volta Lamp was developed. |
| 1779 | He became Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Pavia. Alessandro also travelled to Switzerland, which was the first of many trips. |
| 1781 | Alessandro lectured throughout Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Holland, France and England. |
| 1783 | He travelled to Vienna and met with Emperor Joseph II. |
| 1785 | Alessandro became the Rector at the University of Pavia. |
| 1791 | Luigi Galvani’s reports on experiments with ‘animal electricity’ were published. Alessandro carried out experiments of his own, which led to his theory that animal tissue was not required to conduct electricity. This would later be proven by his development of the battery. |
| 1794 | Alessandro was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society of London for his work in chemistry. Alessandro married Teresa Peregrini, who came from a wealthy family in Como. They later had three sons, one of whom died aged 18. |
| 1799 | After completing his own experiments, Alessandro disagreed with the findings of Luigi Galvani. He developed the first electric battery, known as the Voltaic Pile. Alessandro also discovered the law of electromotive forces. |
| 1800 | He wrote to Sir Joseph Banks of the Royal Society of London and described his findings. That led to further experiments and development in electricity and batteries. |
| 1801 | Alessandro travelled to Paris and lectured at the Institut National de France. |
| 1805–1809 | He was created a Knight of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the Iron Crown and Senator of the Realm. |
| 1810 | Napoleon Bonaparte granted Alessandro the title of Count, to honour his work in the field of electricity. |
| 1813 | Alessandro stopped teaching. |
| 1846 | The following year, the Royal Society awarded him the Rumford Medal in recognition of his scientific work. |
| 1815 | The Emperor of Austria named Alessandro Professor of Philosophy at the University of Padua. Later, many of his works were published in Florence. |
| 1819 | He retired to his estate in Como, Italy. |
| 1827 | Alessandro died aged 82, in Como, Italy. The important electrical unit, the volt, was named in Alessandro’s honour in 1881. |
1791–1867
the man who invented the electric motor
I learned only basic reading, writing and arithmetic. But I changed the future of the world by discovering that electricity could be made by using magnets.
I was born on 22nd September 1791. My family lived in Newington Butts, which was a village close to London. My parents had nine children, but as was not unusual, only four survived. My father, who was a blacksmith, couldn’t work properly because he had health problems and as a result, we were a family that was always fighting poverty. London was an overcrowded dirty city and the streets were full of disease and dirt. Unless you were rich, there was almost no medical help and our living facilities, like those of all poor people, were basic. When it rained or snowed, damp covered everything and the city was permanently covered in smoke from the fires that every house burned.
It was not only money and health care that was lacking, but also a formal education. I was lucky enough to go to school, at least for long enough to learn the basics of writing and counting, but it was the Sunday School at the local church which helped me most. We would read the Bible, sing and pray – all of which were good for disciplining the mind. Childhood ends early