Alessandro Volta knew what he wanted his life's work to be at a fairly early age. Volta was born in Como, Lombardy, Italy, on February 18, 1745. His family believed he was developmentally-impaired because he did not begin to talk until the age of four. When he turned seven, he caught up with, and began to surpass, his classmates. At age fourteen, Volta decided to become a physicist after reading The History and Present State of Electricity by Joseph Priestley (1733-1804).

In 1774 Volta was appointed professor of Physics in the Como high school. In the following year he made his first major invention, a device called the electrophorous that used to generate static electricity. The electrophorous consisted of two metal plates. One plate was covered in ebonite which, when rubbed with a dry cloth, built up a negative static electric charge. The second plate, which had an insulated handle, was...