Volta, << VOL tah or VOHL tuh, >> Alessandro (1745-1827), won fame as the inventor of the voltaic pile, an early type of electric battery. He made several discoveries in electrostatics, meteorology, and pneumatics. He invented an electrical device called an electrophore. It was a forerunner of the capacitor, a device that can store electric charge. The volt, a unit of electrical measurement, is named for him (see Volt ). Volta was born on Feb. 18, 1745, in Como, Italy, into a noble family. In the early 1800’s, the French leader Napoleon I made Volta a count. His full name was Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta. He died on March 5, 1827. See also Battery ; Electricity (Experiments with electric charge) .
