Coat-of-arms of Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)

Count Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)
Italian physicist. Inventor of the Voltaic pile (1799).

Parti: au 1, d'azur, au cygne entre deux colonnes réunies par une archivolte, le tout d'argent
soutenu par une terrasse de sinople. au 2, de gueules, à une pile électrique d'argent.

The above blason (given by Rietstap and used for our thumbnail) doesn't quite correspend to the above artwork:
When Volta became a senator, his arms were quartered to allow a Senator's symbol in the first quarter (the fourth quarter is new).

This artwork is reproduced here by permission,
from the superb site Héraldique européenne.
Copyright © 1997-2015 by Arnaud Bunel. All rights reserved.

Count Volta contributed electrostatics, meteorology and pneumatics. In 1799, Alessandro Volta built the first battery, thereby inventing the first practical method of generating sustained electrical currents. Rue Volta (Paris III).
Google celebrated the 270th Birthday of Alessandro Volta with the following version (by Mark Holmes) of their logo on their main webpage worldwide, on Wednesday, February 18th, 2015. Unfortunately, the graphics use an anachronistic connection between electricity and light (apparently incandescent light bulbs) which would only be established decades after the death of Volta.

Google Doodle for February 18, 2015: 270th Birthday of Alessandro Volta

Count Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)Italian physicist. Inventor of the Voltaic pile (1799).

Count Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)
Italian physicist. Inventor of the Voltaic pile (1799).