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{{Short description|Italian chemist and physicist (1745–1827)}}
{{For|the concept car|Toyota Alessandro Volta}}
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{{Use British English|date=February 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Alessandro Volta
| honorific_suffix  = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100%}}
| image             = Alessandro Volta.jpeg
| birth_name        = Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1745|02|18|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Como]], [[Duchy of Milan]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1827|03|05|1745|02|18|df=yes}}
| death_place       = Como, [[Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia]], [[Austrian Empire]]
| known_for         = {{Plain list|
* Improving the [[electrophorus]] (1775)
* Discovering [[methane]] (1776)
* Inventing the [[voltaic pile]] (1799)
}}
| title             = Professor of [[Experimental Physics]]
| term              = 1779–1819
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Teresa Peregrini|1794}}
| children          = 3 
| awards            = {{Plain list|
* [[Copley Medal]] (1794)
}}
| fields            = {{Flat list|
* [[Chemistry]]
* [[physics]]
}}
| work_institutions = [[University of Pavia]] 
}}

'''Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|v|ɒ|l|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|v|oʊ|l|t|ə}}; {{IPA|it|alesˈsandro dʒuˈzɛppe anˈtɔnjo anasˈtaːzjo ˈvɔlta|lang}}; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian [[chemist]] and [[physicist]] who was a pioneer of [[electricity]] and [[Power (physics)|power]],<ref name="pancaldi" /><ref name="berzolari" /><ref name="edison" /> and is credited as the inventor of the [[electric battery]] and the discoverer of [[methane]]. He invented the [[voltaic pile]] in 1799, and reported the results of his experiments in a two-part letter to the president of the [[Royal Society]],<ref name="ieeeghn" /><ref name="royal" /> which was published in 1800.<ref name="volta-1800-pht">{{cite journal|title=On the Electricity excited by the mere Contact of conducting Substances of different kinds.|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]|date=20 March 1800|first=Alessandro|last=Volta|authorlink=Alessandro Volta|pages=403–431|editor-first=Joseph|editor-last=Banks|editor-link=Joseph Banks|language=fr|doi=10.1098/rstl.1800.0018|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1432304|volume=90 }}</ref> With this invention, Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement and led others to conduct similar experiments, which eventually led to the development of the field of [[electrochemistry]].<ref name="royal" />

Volta drew admiration from [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] for his invention, and was invited to the [[Institute of France]] to demonstrate his invention to the members of the institute. Throughout his life, Volta enjoyed a certain amount of closeness with the emperor who conferred upon him numerous honours.<ref name="munro" /> Volta held the chair of experimental physics at the [[University of Pavia]] for nearly 40 years and was widely idolised by his students.<ref name="munro" /> Despite his professional success, Volta was inclined towards domestic life and this was more apparent in his later years when he tended to live secluded from public life and more for the sake of his family. He died in 1827 from a series of illnesses which began in 1823.<ref name="munro" /> The [[International System of Units|SI]] unit of [[electric potential]] is named the [[volt]] in his honour.

==Early life and marriage ==
Volta was born in [[Como]], a town in northern [[Italy]], on 18 February 1745. His father, Filippo Volta, was of noble lineage. His mother, Donna Maddalena, came from the family of the Inzaghis.<ref name="lifeworks" /> In 1794, Volta married an aristocratic lady also from Como, Teresa Peregrini, with whom he raised three sons: Zanino, Flaminio, and Luigi.<ref name="cecchini" />

==Career==

In 1774, he became a professor of physics at the Royal School in Como. A year later, he improved and popularised the [[electrophorus]], a device that produced [[static electricity]]. His promotion of it was so extensive that he is often credited with its invention, even though a machine operating on the same principle was described in 1762 by the Swedish experimenter [[Johan Wilcke]].<ref name="pancaldi" /><ref name="wilcke" /> In 1777, he travelled through Switzerland, where he befriended the physicist and mountaineer [[H. B. de Saussure]].

In the years between 1776 and 1778, Volta studied the [[chemistry]] of gases. He researched and discovered [[methane]] after reading a paper by [[Benjamin Franklin]] of the United States on "flammable air". In November 1776, he found methane in the marshes of [[Angera]] on [[Lake Maggiore]],<ref name="marsh" /> and by 1778 he managed to isolate it.<ref name="methane" /> He devised experiments such as the [[combustion|ignition]] of methane by an electric [[Electrostatic discharge|spark]] in a closed vessel.

Volta also studied what we now call electrical [[capacitance]], developing separate means to study both electrical potential difference (''V'') and charge (''Q''), and discovering that for a given object, they are proportional.<ref name="williams" /> This is called Volta's Law of Capacitance, and for this work, the unit of electrical potential has been named the volt.<ref name="williams" />

In 1779, he became a professor of experimental physics at the [[University of Pavia]], a chair that he occupied for almost 40 years.<ref name="munro" /> Volta's lectures were so crowded with students that the subsequent emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] ordered the construction (based on a project by [[Leopoldo Pollack|Leopold Pollack]]) of a new "physical theatre", today the "Aula Volta".<ref name="Aula Volta">{{cite web|url=https://alessandrovolta.it/luoghi-voltiani/pavia/aula-volta/|title=Aula Volta|work=Luoghi Voltiani|access-date=21 August 2022}}</ref> Furthermore, the emperor granted Volta substantial funding to equip the physics cabinet with instruments, purchased by Volta in England and France. At the [[University History Museum, University of Pavia|University History Museum]] of the University of Pavia there are 150 of them, used by Alessandro Volta.<ref name="Sala Volta">{{cite web|url=https://museoperlastoria.unipv.it/en/volta-room/|title=Sala Volta|work=Musei Unipv|access-date=21 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://alessandrovolta.it/luoghi-voltiani/pavia/gabinetto-fisico/|title=Gabinetto Fisico|work=Luoghi Voltiani|access-date=21 August 2022}}</ref>

== Volta and Galvani ==
[[File:VoltaBattery.JPG|thumb|Volta battery at the [[Tempio Voltiano]] museum, Como]]
[[Luigi Galvani]], an Italian physicist, discovered something he named "animal electricity" when two different metals were connected in series with a frog's leg and to one another. Volta realised that the frog's leg served as both a conductor of electricity (what we would now call an [[electrolyte]]) and as a detector of electricity. He also understood that the frog's legs were irrelevant to the [[electric current]], which was caused by the two differing metals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Price |first=Derek deSolla |title=On the Brink of Tomorrow: Frontiers of Science |date=1982 |publisher=National Geographic Society |location=Washington D.C. |pages=16–17}}</ref> He replaced the frog's leg with brine-soaked paper and detected the flow of electricity by other means familiar to him from his previous studies. In this way, he discovered the [[electrochemical series]], and the law that the [[electromotive force]] (emf) of a [[galvanic cell]], consisting of a pair of metal [[electrode]]s separated by electrolyte, is the difference between their two electrode potentials (thus, two identical electrodes and a common electrolyte give zero net emf). This may be called Volta's Law of the electrochemical series.

In 1800, as the result of a professional disagreement over the galvanic response advocated by Galvani, Volta invented the [[voltaic pile]], an early [[Battery (electricity)|electric battery]], which produced a steady electric current.<ref name="routledge" /> Volta had determined that the most effective pair of dissimilar metals to produce electricity was [[zinc]] and [[copper]]. Initially, he experimented with individual cells in series, each cell being a wine goblet filled with [[brine]] into which the two dissimilar electrodes were dipped. The voltaic pile replaced the goblets with cardboard soaked in brine.

== Early battery ==
[[File:Voltaic pile.svg|thumb|A [[voltaic pile]]]]
In announcing his invention of the voltaic pile, Volta paid tribute to the influences of [[William Nicholson (chemist)|William Nicholson]], [[Tiberius Cavallo]], and [[Abraham Bennet]].<ref name="elliott" />

The battery made by Volta is credited as one of the first electrochemical cells. It consists of two electrodes: one made of [[zinc]], the other of [[copper]]. The [[electrolyte]] is either [[sulphuric acid]] mixed with water or a form of saltwater [[brine]]. The electrolyte exists in the form {{chem2|2 H+}} and {{chem2|SO4(2−)}}. Zinc metal, which is higher in the [[standard electrode potential (data page)|electrochemical series]] than both copper and hydrogen, is oxidized to zinc cations (Zn<sup>2+</sup>) and creates electrons that move to the copper electrode. The positively charged hydrogen ions ([[proton]]s) capture [[electron]]s from the copper electrode, forming bubbles of hydrogen gas, H<sub>2</sub>. This makes the zinc rod the negative electrode and the copper rod the positive electrode. Thus, there are two terminals, and an electric current will flow if they are connected. The [[chemical reaction]]s in this voltaic cell are as follows:

:Zinc:
::{{chem2|Zn → Zn(2+) + 2e-}}

:Sulphuric acid:
::{{chem2|2H+ + 2e- -> H2}}

Copper metal does not react, but rather it functions as a [[Catalysis|catalyst]] for the hydrogen-gas formation and an electrode for the electric current. The sulphate anion ({{chem2|SO4(2-)}}) does not undergo any chemical reaction either, but migrates to the zinc anode to compensate for the charge of the zinc cations formed there. However, this cell also has some disadvantages. It is unsafe to handle, since sulphuric acid, even if diluted, can be hazardous. Also, the power of the cell diminishes over time because the hydrogen gas is not released. Instead, it accumulates on the surface of the copper electrode and forms a barrier between the metal and the electrolyte solution.

== Last years and retirement ==
[[File:Painting of Volta by Bertini (photo).jpeg|thumb|Volta explains the principle of the ''electric column'' to [[Napoleon]] in 1801.]]

In 1809, Volta became an associated member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|Royal Institute of the Netherlands]].<ref name="dwc" /> In honour of his work, Volta was made a count by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1810.<ref name="pancaldi" />

Volta retired in 1819 to his estate in Camnago, a {{lang|it|[[frazione]]}} of [[Como, Italy]], now named "Camnago Volta" in his honour. He died there on 5 March 1827, just after his 82nd birthday.<ref name="huji" /> Volta's remains were buried in Camnago Volta.<ref name="grave" />

=== Legacy ===
Volta's legacy is celebrated by the [[Tempio Voltiano]] memorial located in the public gardens by the lake. There is also a museum that was built in his honour, which exhibits some of the equipment that Volta used to conduct experiments.<ref name="atlas" /> Nearby stands the [[Villa Olmo]], which houses the Voltian Foundation, an organization promoting scientific activities. Volta carried out his experimental studies and produced his first inventions near Como.<ref name="villa" /> [[File:Aula volta pavia.jpg|left|thumb|[[Leopoldo Pollack]], Aula Volta, 1787, [[Old Campus of the University of Pavia]]]]
In the [[Old Campus of the University of Pavia|Old Campus]] of the [[University of Pavia]], there is the classroom (Aula Volta) commissioned by Emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] to [[Leopoldo Pollack]] in 1787 for the lectures of Alessandro Volta,<ref name="Aula Volta"/> while in the [[University History Museum, University of Pavia|University History Museum]] there are many scientific instruments that belonged to Volta.<ref name="Sala Volta"/>

In 1927, an international physics conference, the [[Como Conference]] was held at [[Lake Como]] for the 100th anniversary of his death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Como congress 1927 {{!}} timeline.web.cern.ch |url=https://timeline.web.cern.ch/como-congress-1927 |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=timeline.web.cern.ch}}</ref>

His image was depicted on the [[Italian lira|Italian Lire&nbsp;10,000 note]] (1990–1997) along with a sketch of his voltaic pile.<ref name="desmond" />

In late 2017, Nvidia announced a new workstation-focused [[Graphics processing unit|GPU]] [[microarchitecture]] called [[Volta (microarchitecture)|Volta]].

The [[electric eel]] species ''[[Electrophorus voltai]]'', described in 2019 as the strongest bioelectricity producer in nature, was named after Volta.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=de Santana|first1=C. David|last2=Crampton|first2=William G. R.|last3=Dillman|first3=Casey B.|last4=Frederico|first4=Renata G.|last5=Sabaj|first5=Mark H.|last6=Covain|first6=Raphaël|last7=Ready|first7=Jonathan|last8=Zuanon|first8=Jansen|last9=de Oliveira|first9=Renildo R.|last10=Mendes-Júnior|first10=Raimundo N.|last11=Bastos|first11=Douglas A.|display-authors=2|date=10 September 2019|title=Unexpected species diversity in electric eels with a description of the strongest living bioelectricity generator|url=|journal=Nature Communications|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=4000|bibcode=2019NatCo..10.4000D|doi=10.1038/s41467-019-11690-z|issn=2041-1723|pmc=6736962|pmid=31506444}}</ref>

== Religious beliefs ==
Volta was raised as a Catholic and for all of his life continued to maintain his belief.<ref name="zenit" /> Because he was not ordained a clergyman as his family expected, he was sometimes accused of being irreligious and some people have speculated about his possible unbelief, stressing that "he did not join the Church",<ref name="davis" /> or that he virtually "ignored the church's call".<ref name="schiffer" /> Nevertheless, he cast out doubts in a declaration of faith in which he said:
[[File:Cattedra di alessandro Volta museo per la storia dell'università di pavia.jpg|thumb|The chair and the blackboard of Alessandro Volta, [[University History Museum, University of Pavia|University History Museum]] of the University of Pavia]]
<blockquote> 
I do not understand how anyone can doubt the sincerity and constancy of my attachment to the religion which I profess, the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic religion in which I was born and brought up, and of which I have always made confession, externally and internally. I have, indeed, and only too often, failed in the performance of those good works which are the mark of a Catholic Christian, and I have been guilty of many sins: but through the special mercy of God I have never, as far as I know, wavered in my faith... In this faith I recognise a pure gift of God, a supernatural grace; but I have not neglected those human means which confirm belief, and overthrow the doubts which at times arise. I studied attentively the grounds and basis of religion, the works of apologists and assailants, the reasons for and against, and I can say that the result of such study is to clothe religion with such a degree of probability, even for the merely natural reason, that every spirit unperverted by sin and passion, every naturally noble spirit must love and accept it. May this confession which has been asked from me and which I willingly give, written and subscribed by my own hand, with authority to show it to whomsoever you will, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel, may it produce some good fruit!<ref name="kneller" /><ref name="epist" />
</blockquote>

== Publications ==
[[File:Volta eerste publicatie.gif|thumb|150 px|Front page of ''De vi attractiva ignis electrici'']]
*{{cite book |last=Voltae |first=Alexandri |display-authors=0 |title=De vi attractiva ignis electrici, ac phaenomenis inde pendentibus |trans-title=The attractive force of an electric fire and the resulting phenomena |location=Novo Comi |publisher=Typis Octavii Staurenghi |year=1769 |oclc=1419897 |language=la |ref=none |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Ha9gAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PP10}}

===Lesser known collections===
* ''Briefe über thierische elektricität'' (1900) (''Letters about animal electricity'', Available through Worldcat.org libraries, Leipzig, W. Engelmann, publisher) 
* ''Untersuchungen über den Galvanismus'', 1796 bis 1800 (''Studies on Galvanism'', Available through Worldcat.org libraries)
* ''Del modo di render sensibilissima la più debole elettricità sia naturale, sia artificiale'' (''Of the method of rendering very sensible the weakest natural or artificial electricity'' By Alexander Volta, Professor Of Experimental Philosophy In Como, &c. Read at the Royal Society, 14 March 1782, Held in WorldCat libraries)

== See also ==
* [[Armstrong effect]]
* [[Electrophorus]]
* [[History of the battery]]
* [[History of the internal combustion engine]]
* [[Lemon battery]]
* [[Mercury beating heart]]
* [[Thermoelectric effect]]
* [[Volta (crater)|Volta (lunar crater)]]
* [[Volta Prize]]

== References ==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<ref name="atlas">{{cite book |title=The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science and Technology Come Alive |first=John |last=Graham-Cumming |chapter=Tempio Voltiano, Como, Italy |publisher=O'Reilly Media |year=2009 |isbn=9780596523206 |page=95 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HhEC0q-O1ewC&pg=PA95}}</ref>
<ref name="berzolari">Alberto Gigli Berzolari, ''"Volta's Teaching in Como and Pavia"'' - Nuova voltiana</ref>
<ref name="davis">'Adam-Hart Davis. (2012). ''Engineers''. Penguin. p. 138</ref>
<ref name="desmond">{{cite book|last=Desmond|first=Kevin|title=Innovators in Battery Technology: Profiles of 95 Influential Electrochemists|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gliiDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA235|year=2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476622781|page=235}}</ref>
<ref name="dwc">{{cite web |url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00003610 |title=Alessandro G.A.A. Volta (1745–1827) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=20 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903182941/http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00003610 |archive-date=3 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="edison">[http://www.edisontechcenter.org/HallofFame.html Hall of Fame], Edison.</ref>
<ref name="elliott">{{cite journal|author=Elliott, P. |title=Abraham Bennet F.R.S. (1749–1799): a provincial electrician in eighteenth-century England |journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=59–78 |year=1999 |url=http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/content/klgdd0umcmvjqnpr/fulltext.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/content/klgdd0umcmvjqnpr/fulltext.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |doi=10.1098/rsnr.1999.0063|s2cid=144062032 }}{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
<ref name="epist">Alessandro Volta. 1955. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eJPnAAAAMAAJ&q=editions:Lg-BQ9M7x6IC Epistolario, Volume 5]''. Zanichelli. p. 29</ref>
<ref name="grave">For a photograph of his gravesite, and other Volta locales, see {{cite web |title=Volta's localities |url=http://www.corrieredicomo.it/pg_interna.cfm?IndiceID=526&MenuID=2 |access-date=20 June 2009}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>
<ref name="huji">{{cite web |url=http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/volta.htm#end |title=Volta |publisher=Institute of Chemistry – Jerusalem |access-date=1 May 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090408220853/http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/history/volta.htm |archive-date= 8 April 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref>
<ref name="ieeeghn">{{cite web |title=Milestones:Volta's Electrical Battery Invention, 1799 |url=http://ethw.org/Milestones:Volta's_Electrical_Battery_Invention,_1799 |website=ETHW|date=12 February 2020 |access-date=4 December 2021}}</ref>
<ref name="kneller">Kneller, Karl Alois, ''[https://archive.org/stream/christianitylead00knelrich#page/118/mode/2up Christianity and the leaders of modern science; a contribution to the history of culture in the nineteenth century]'' (1911), p. 117–118</ref>
<ref name="lifeworks">{{cite web |url=http://www.alessandrovolta.info/life_and_works_8.html |title=Life and works |newspaper=Alessandrovolta.info |publisher=Editoriale srl |location=Como, Italy |access-date=18 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221032105/http://www.alessandrovolta.info/life_and_works_8.html |archive-date=21 February 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="marsh">Alessandro Volta, ''Lettere del Signor Don Alessandro Volta ... Sull' Aria Infiammabile Nativa delle Paludi'' [Letters of Signor Don Alessandro Volta ... on the flammable native air of the marshes] (Milan, (Italy): Giuseppe Marelli, 1777).</ref>
<ref name="methane">{{cite book |url=http://www.bookrags.com/research/methane-woc/ |title=Methane |publisher=BookRags |access-date=26 January 2012}}</ref>
<ref name="munro">{{cite book|author=Munro, John|title=Pioneers of Electricity; Or, Short Lives of the Great Electricians|year=1902|publisher=The Religious Tract Society| location = London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/pioneerselectri00munrgoog/page/n102 89]–102|url=https://archive.org/details/pioneerselectri00munrgoog}}</ref>
<ref name="pancaldi">{{cite book|last=Pancaldi|first=Giuliano|authorlink=Giuliano Pancaldi|year= 2003|title=Volta, Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment|publisher=Princeton Univ. Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGoYB1Twx4sC|isbn=978-0-691-12226-7}}</ref>
<ref name="routledge">{{cite book|title=A popular history of science|author=Robert Routledge|url=https://archive.org/details/b24869880|page=[https://archive.org/details/b24869880/page/553 553] |edition=2nd|year=1881|publisher=G. Routledge and Sons}}</ref>
<ref name="royal">{{cite web|title=Enterprise and electrolysis|url=http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2003/August/electrolysis.asp|website=rsc.org|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|access-date=18 February 2015}}</ref>
<ref name="schiffer">Michael Brian Schiffer (2003), ''Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment''. University of California Press. p. 55</ref>
<ref name="villa">{{cite web | url=http://www.centrovolta.it/volta-en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63 | title=Villa Olmo | website=centrovolta.it | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210083231/http://www.centrovolta.it/volta-en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63 | archive-date=10 February 2009}}</ref>
<ref name="wilcke">Joh. Carl Wilcke (1762) "Ytterligare rön och försök om ''contraira electriciteterne'' vid laddningen och därtil hörande delar" (Additional findings and experiments on the opposing electric charges [that are created] during charging, and parts related thereto) ''Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar'' (Proceedings of the Royal Swedish Science Academy), vol. 23, pages [https://books.google.com/books?id=HHRJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA202 206–229], 245–266.</ref>
<ref name="williams">{{cite book |author=Williams, Jeffrey Huw |title=Defining and Measuring Nature: The Make of All Things |year=2014 |publisher=Morgan & Claypool |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPO9BAAAQBAJ&q=volta%27s+law+of+capacitance&pg=PT76 |isbn=978-1-627-05278-8}}</ref>
<ref name="zenit">{{cite web|url=http://www.zenit.org/article-29971?l=italian|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130416082708/http://www.zenit.org/article-29971?l=italian|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 April 2013|title=Gli scienziati cattolici che hanno fatto lItalia (Catholic scientists who made Italy)|publisher=Zenit}}</ref>
<ref name="cecchini">R. Cecchini and G. Pelosi, "Alessandro Volta and his battery," in IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 30-37, April 1992, doi: 10.1109/74.134307. </ref>
}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Alessandro Volta}}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Alessandro Volta}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120716205546/http://electrochem.cwru.edu/encycl/art-v01-volta.htm Volta and the "Pile"]
* [http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/volta.htm Alessandro Volta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102131114/http://ideafinder.com/history/inventors/volta.htm |date=2 January 2010 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030624/http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/volta.html Count Alessandro Volta]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Volta, Alessandro |volume=28 |page=198}}
* [http://histoires-de-sciences.over-blog.fr/2013/11/electrical-units-history.html Electrical units history.]
* [https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/history/pioneers/alessandro-volta-biography.php Life of Alessandro Volta: Biography; Inventions; Facts]
* [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alessandro-Volta Alessandro Volta | Biography, Facts, Battery, & Invention | Britannica] 

{{Copley Medallists 1751–1800}}
{{Scientists whose names are used as SI units}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volta, Alessandro}}
[[Category:Alessandro Volta| ]]
[[Category:1745 births]]
[[Category:1827 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Como]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian physicists]]
[[Category:Battery inventors]]
[[Category:Enlightenment scientists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Independent scientists]]
[[Category:History of neuroscience]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian inventors]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian physicists]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:People associated with electricity]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Italian scientific instrument makers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Pavia]]