Italian scientist, Alessandro Volta, made a voltaic pile in 1799. A simple and reliable source of electric current that did not need to be recharged like the Leyden jar; his invention quickly led to a new wave of electrical experiments. The pile, which was a stack of silver and zinc discs separated by pieces of brine-soaked fabric, was crude, but when it ends were connected via metal wire, it produced a small electric current. In the years following the pile’s invention, the battery was improved again and again, and now it is a fundamental source of portable power that many of us just couldn’t live without.
