New Delhi: The latest Google Doodle pays tribute to the inventor of one of the most significant inventions till date. Google celebrates 270th birthday of the battery inventor Alessandro Volta on February 18.
A click on the doodle shows the battery charging and google lighting up simultaneously. Another click takes you to a Google search of Alessandro Volta's top links of articles about his life and works.
Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta, an Italian physicist invented battery in the 1800s. Born in Como, Italy, Volta grew to become a professor of physics at the Royal School. His interest in electricity paved way to the invention of electrophorus, a device used to generate static electricity. He was also the first person to isolate methane which further led to the discovery that methane mixed with air could be exploded with an electric spark.
Honouring Volta's contribution to the electrical science, the unit of electrical potential came to be known as volt.
Alessandro Volta's image was depicted on the Italian 10,000 lira note (no longer in circulation) with a sketch of his voltaic pile.
Apart from these inventions, Alessandro Volta was also a master in many languages. His proficiency in Latin, French, German and English helped him while travelling across the whole of Europe.
Volta died on March 5, 1827. A museum was later built in his memory which displayed some of his experimental equipments.