ALESSANDRO

VOLTA (1745-1827)  , Italian physicist, was born at Como on the 18th of February 1745 . He is celebrated as a pioneer of electrical science, after whom the " volt " is named . In 1774 he was appointed professor of physics in the gymnasium of Como, and in 1777 he travelled through Switzer-land, where he formed an intimate friendship with H . B. de Saussure . In 1779 a chair of physics was founded in Pavia, and Volta was chosen to occupy it . In 1782 he journeyed through France, Germany, Holland and England, and became acquainted with many scientific celebrities . In 1791 he received the Copley medal of the Royal Society . In 18o1 Napoleon called him to Paris, to show his experiments on contact electricity, and a medal was struck in his honour . He was made a senator of the kingdom of Lombardy . In r815 the emperor of Austria made him director of the philosophical faculty of Padua . In 1819 he retired and settled in his native town, where he died on the 5th of March 1827 . For Volta's electrical work, and his place in the history of discovery (see ELECTRICITY; also VOLTMETER) .