Full Name: Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta | Profession: Physicist, chemist; pioneer of electricity (inventor of the voltaic pile) | Nationality: Italian | Born: February 18, 1745 | Birthplace: Como, Duchy of Milan (now Italy) | Generation: Pre-modern cohort (18th–19th century) | Chinese Zodiac: Ox (Chinese New Year in 1745 fell on Feb 1; a Feb 18 birth falls within the Ox lunar year) | Zodiac Sign: Aquarius | Age in 2026: Would be 281 | Marital Status: (Noted historically as married) | Children: 3 | Description: A foundational figure in the birth of electrical science, Volta is remembered for turning scattered observations about charge, conduction, and chemical interaction into a decisive breakthrough: a reliable, continuous source of current. His voltaic pile didn’t merely add a new device—it opened a new experimental universe, making it practical to test, measure, and reproduce electrical phenomena, thereby accelerating the field of electrochemistry and, later, technological electrification. The fact that the unit “volt” bears his name is more than commemoration—it signals how deeply his work is embedded in the language and infrastructure of modern physics and engineering. Cause of Death (if deceased): Died March 5, 1827, Como