Alessandro Volta is a physicist, chemist, physiologist and a convinced Catholic

The Italian Alessandro Volta is a physicist and chemist, a pioneer in the field of electricity, the discoverer of methane. This remarkable scientist idolized his disciples at the University of Pavia.

Childhood

In the patriarchal family of Padre (father) Filippo Volta and his wife Maddalena, the daughter of Count Inzago, on whom he married in secret, the fourth child was born. He was dubbed as Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio. It was February 18, 1745 in the ancient city of Como in the picturesque Lombardy. For the parents, this was not a significant event, and they quickly gave the babe to the village of the wet nurse, simply forgetting about the little Sandrino. The baby has grown up freely in the village of Brunate for about three years. Physically strong, healthy, brisk, he spoke very badly, because no one taught him. Nobody could have imagined that Italy would grow pride - Alessandro Volta - a physicist who would advance the science of electricity.

When the boy was seven years old, his father died, and the child was taken to his house by his uncle, the canon. He was a learned man and took seriously for raising a child. The lively and inquisitive boy quickly spoke, began to learn Latin, history, arithmetic, rules of conduct. Everything was given to him with ease and without tension. Alessandro was very interested in art, especially music. He turned into a sociable and witty teenager. Alessandro was struck by the news of the earthquake in Lisbon, and he was determined to solve the mystery of such disasters. His irrepressible curiosity nearly led to his death. Once he was looking in the deep vein "golden shine" at the bottom, accidentally fell into the water and almost drowned. Later it turned out that pieces of mica glittered under the water under the water.

Youth

The uncle's house, which foresaw the living mind of his pupil, was filled with scientific books. Young Volta - a physicist by vocation, studied, visiting the house of his wet nurse, doing barometers and thermometers (from her husband). The ability to work with his hands will come in handy later in the manufacture of electrical appliances. Then his uncle gave him at the age of 12 to teach philosophy to the Jesuit monks. Soon my uncle noticed that my nephew wanted to cook for tonsure, and took him.

Explosion of interest in the natural sciences

The return of Halley's comet, as predicted by the English scientist, attracted Alessandro to the works of another English genius - Newton. The young man begins to clearly understand his vocation - natural sciences: he studies the theory of gravitation, tries to explain electricity. So the physicist gradually grows up in a young Volta. Learning that in 1752 B. Franklin opened a device, which we call a lightning rod (which is not quite accurate), the young man in 1768, striking the imagination of all the townspeople, sets it on his roof.

Job

From the age of 29, Volta works at the Royal Gymnasium of Como. A year later he improved the device, which creates static electricity - the electrophor. Then he studies the chemistry of gases, and he manages to isolate methane. It took two years. With him, he developed an experiment - the firing of methane electric spark in a closed vessel. Volta studied what we now call electrical capacitance, and also developed tools for studying the electrical potential (V), charge (Q) and found that for a given object they are proportional. These discoveries Volta in physics committed, working in Como.

Five years later, he was invited to the University of Pavia as a professor. Here he organized the Department of Experimental Physics. She worked there for forty years, heading it, Volta. The physicist created one of the first versions of an electrical battery based on the theory advanced by Luigi Galvani. Galvani experimented with the frog. Her foot served as an electrolyte. Volta understood this, replaced the foot of the frog with a paper soaked in brine, and found a stream of electricity. Then he created a device - the prototype of an electric battery. It was called a "volt pole" and consisted of two electrodes. One was from zinc, the other from copper. The electrolyte was sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, mixed with water. Its battery created a steady electric current.

Recognition of merit

Currently, his name is the unit for measuring the electrical voltage. It sounds like a volt.

In the name of Volta, the lunar crater was named in 1964.

The Italian physicist Volta in 1809 became a member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands. His work was interested in Napoleon.

For work in the field of physics, he awarded Alessandro Volta the title of Count in 1801. Napoleon created the Volta Prize. It was awarded in the XIX century by the French Academy of Sciences for scientific achievements in the field of electric power.

His family life was also successful. Alessandro married in 1794 on the aristocrat Therese Peregrini and brought up with her three children: Zanino, Flaminio and Luigi.

The physicist retired in 1819 and retired to his estate of Cumagno. In it, he died on the 83rd year of life in 1827. In his estate he is buried. This can put an end to the biography of the physicist Volta. His biography is over, but has remained in the centuries. Only you can add that it was a deeply religious person. As he once said to himself: "By the special mercy of God, I have never wavered in faith. The gospel can only bring forth good fruits. "