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Alessandro Volta

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Scientist

The Resume

    (February 18, 1745-March 5, 1827)
    Born in Como, Italy
    Professor of experimental physics at the University of Pavia (1779-1819)
    Isolated methane (1778)
    Discovered the Law of Capacitance: for a given object, electric potential and charge are proportional
    Created the voltaic pile, the first electric battery (1799)

Why he might be annoying:

    He did not begin speaking until he was four years old.
    He disappointed his parents by deciding to not join the clergy.
    A collection of his surviving original voltaic piles was gathered in Como for a celebration of the 100th anniversary of his invention of the battery, only for them all to be destroyed by a fire (July 8, 1899).

Why he might not be annoying:

    In addition to his native Italian, he was fluent in English, French and Latin, and could read Spanish and Dutch.
    He was the first foreign scientist to be awarded the Royal Society's Copley Medal (1791).
    After he demonstrated the voltaic pile to the French Academy, Napoleon awarded him the Legion of Honor and made him a count (1810).
    He appeared on the Italian 10,000 lira note.
    The metric unit of electric potential was named the volt in his honor (1881).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 27 Votes: 48.15% Annoying