History
In 1780, Luigi Galvani discovered that when two different metals (e.g., copper and zinc) are connected and then both touched at the same time to two different parts of a nerve of a frog leg, then the leg contracts. He called this "animal electricity". The voltaic pile, invented by Alessandro Volta in the 1800s, is similar to the galvanic cell.
These discoveries paved the way for electrical batteries; Volta's cell was named an IEEE Milestone in 1999.
Read more about this topic: Galvanic Cell
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There is a history in all men’s lives,
Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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It resembled a mare shuffling on,
dragging its history like saddlebags,
nearing its tomb and the pitch of hell.”
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“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)