The Legacy of Volta: From the Battery to Photovoltaic Electricity ("The Volta Effect": exhibition posters)

The posters illustrate the "strange" theory of contac electricity which Volta formulated in 1792. The theory was strange in te sense that it contradicted the idea that simple conductors equalise electrical differences instead of producing them, as Volta maintained. Volta's conceptual break is understood by making reference to the theoretical views he had developed on the structure of matter since the very beginning of his scientific career. The role of Volta's contact electricity is the invention of the battery is then presented. The posters consider and present the fertility of Volta's contact electricity hypothesis: for a very long time its status remained controversial but in the end it was admitted as a real effect when quantum mechanics made it possible to understand that electrical differences can be established by simple contact between two different conductors. The posters illustrate how the Volta Effect is today embodied in advanced technology like microchips, photovoltaic electricity and LEDs