GOOGLE has celebrated the 270th birthday of
Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the modern battery,
with a Doodle on its homepage.
ELECTRIC: Volta created the world's first modern battery [IG]
In honour of his contribution, his name inspired the electrical unit 'volt' in 1881.
Volta was born on this day, February 18th, in 1745 in Como, Italy.
He became a professor of physics at the Royal School in Como in 1774 and began to experiment with electricity.
His crucial invention arose from a competition with Luigi Galvani, a friend and fellow physicist.
Galvani is famous for discovering that dissected frogs' legs would twitch once probed with different metals.
EXTREME: Volta would even test the electrical currents on his own tongue [AP]
On the other hand, Volta argued that the animal's tissue served only as a conductor.
Volta would often go to extremes to experiment with conductivity, even testing the currents on his own tongue.
When Volta invented the battery in 1800, he even made the trip to Paris to demonstrate the creation in front of Napoleon.
So impressed with the scientist's work, the French leader made Volta a senator of the kingdom of Lombardy in 1810.
Volta died on 5 March, 1827 in Como.