The Battery's Inventor

Alessandro Volta

Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist, invented the first battery in 1800 that came to be known as the Voltaic pile. He has also made important discoveries in pneumatics, meteorology, and electrostatics, but his greatest invention for all humankind was the battery. 29 years after being born in Como, Italy, Alessandro Volta got the opportunity to serve as a physics professor at the Royal School in his hometown. In 1774, it was at this place where he contrived his foremost invention―electrophorus, a device which generated static electricity. Through the process of igniting static sparks, he studied as well as experimented with atmospheric electricity. After five years at the Royal School, he was called to be a Professor at the University of Pavia, in 1779. It was at this place where he invented the voltaic pile, the first practical method of generating electricity. He constructed the voltaic pile by placing copper and zinc discs alternately, one above the other, with cardboard pieces soaked in brine placed in between them. This voltaic pile generated electric current. To carry the electricity over a long distance, a metallic arc was used. This was the first ever battery to produce a consistent and reliable current of electricity. It was the world's first "wet cell battery". Luigi Galvani, a contemporary of Alessandro Volta, had earlier come up with the theory of galvanic responses, which stated that animal tissues had some form of electricity present in them. This happened when he was dissecting a frog that was affixed to hook made of brass. When he touched the frog's leg with the iron scalpel, the leg started twitching. He believed that the energy that caused this contraction had come from the frog's leg itself. Thus, he called it "animal electricity". As a protest against this theory, Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile to establish the fact that electricity is produced when different metals like brass and iron come in contact with each other in a moist atmosphere, and not through animal tissues. To commensurate the work of this genius in minds of people forever, the unit of electromotive force or difference of potential that causes current to flow through resistance, Volt, was named after Alessandro Volta.

Timeline of the Battery

• 1748 ― The term 'battery' came into existence after Benjamin Franklin defined it as an arrangement of charged glass plates.
• 1780―1786 ― The theory of electricity present in animal cells was brought out by Luigi Galvani, which provided the foundation for other scientists for further research.
• 1800 ― Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile, which was the first ever battery that produced consistent electric current.
• 1836 ― The Daniel cell was invented by John Daniel, which consisted of a zinc and copper electrolyte. It lasted longer and was considered much safer than the battery invented by Volta.
• 1839 ― The first fuel cell was invented by William Robert Grove, which generated electric current by uniting oxygen and hydrogen.
• 1839―1842 ― Numerous scientists and inventors improvised batteries by using liquid electrodes to generate electricity.
• 1859 ― The rechargeable lead-acid battery, used these days in cars, was invented by a French inventor, Gaston Planté.
• 1866 ― The carbon-zinc wet cell bettery called the Leclanche cell was patented by another Frenchman named Georges Leclanché.
• 1881 ― The first battery which had a negative electrode and porous pot kept on a zinc cup was discovered and patented by J.A. Thiebaut.
• 1881 ― The first ever dry cell battery, which was also a commercial success, was invented by Carl Gassner.
• 1899 ― The nickel-cadmium battery, which could also be recharged, was invented by Waldemar Jungner.
• 1901 ― The alkaline storage battery was invented by Thomas Alva Edison.
• 1949 ― The small alkaline battery was invented by Lewis Urry.
• 1954 ― The first ever solar battery was invented by Calvin Fuller, Daryl Chapin, and Gerald Pearson.