1745-1827

Italian physicist who invented the electric storage battery. Volta's electrophorus replaced the Leiden jar for generating and storing electricity and led to modern electrical condensers. He showed that the galvanic effect (first noticed in the twitching of frogs' legs) could be generated with non-living objects, leading to the development of the storage battery. Volta's concepts of electrical tension and capacity are still in use today. He was memorialized by the term volt, denoting the unit of electromotive force.