Alessandro Volta

Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) was an Italian physicist and chemist who invented the voltaic pile, an early electric battery. The unit of electric potential, the volt, is named after him.

Luigi Galvani: An Italian physician and physicist whose experiments on frog legs helped launch the study of bioelectricity. Galvani’s animal-electricity theory prompted Volta to investigate the source of the observed electrical effects.
Voltaic pile: An early battery made from alternating discs of two metals separated by electrolyte-soaked material. This is the device Volta introduced in 1800 to produce continuous electric current.
Galvani's animal electricity: Luigi Galvani’s proposal that animal tissues generate an intrinsic form of electricity. Volta challenged this explanation after studying the effects of dissimilar metals on frog-leg muscles.
Electrolysis: The use of electric current to drive a chemical reaction that would not occur spontaneously. The pile made electrolysis practical and enabled early discoveries about chemical decomposition.
Humphry Davy: An English chemist known for isolating several elements and investigating electrochemistry. Davy used powerful batteries developed from the voltaic pile in his electrochemical research.
Electrochemical cell: A device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy through redox reactions. The voltaic pile is an early form of this broader class of energy-converting devices.
Leyden jar: An early capacitor that stores static electric charge in a glass jar. Unlike the Leyden jar, Volta’s pile supplied a sustained current rather than a brief discharge.
Electrochemistry: The study of chemical processes involving electron transfer and electrical energy. Volta’s sustained current opened new experimental routes linking electricity and chemical change.
William Nicholson: An English chemist and inventor who helped establish electrolysis as a method of chemical decomposition. Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle used Volta’s battery to decompose water in 1800.
Electrode potential: The electrical potential difference associated with an electrode’s tendency to undergo oxidation or reduction. Differences between the metals’ electrode potentials help explain the pile’s voltage.

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