Alessandro Volta
1745 – 1827
Built the first battery; the volt is his.
The Italian physicist who built the first battery — the voltaic pile — around 1800, settling a famous dispute with Galvani and giving science a steady source of electric current for the first time.
The unit of electric potential, the volt, is his. Every battery and power-supply tool here descends from his stack of zinc, copper, and brine-soaked cloth.
Portrait: a stylized blueprint-line rendering, not a photograph.
Contributions in the toolbox
- 1800
The voltaic pile — the first battery.
→ Battery Life - 1800
The pile — cells in series, the first battery.
→ Battery Pack Configuration