The Galvani Vs Volta Debate and Their Contributions to Science

Luigi Galvani (1737-1798)

The Italian anatomist and physician Luigi Galvani was one of the first to investigate experimentally the phenomenon of what came to be named "bioelectrogenesis". He found that applying an electrical current to the muscle in a frog's leg or to the nerves would cause the legs to contract, even if they were no longer connected to the body. Then something happened that made Galvani wonder. An assistant of his was drawing a spark from the brass conductor, when a knife touched a nerve in the frog's spine, causing the muscles in the legs to contract, as if a severe cramp had set in. He knew metals conducted a substance called electricity, and concluded that this must have been caused by some kind of electricity. He called it 'animal electricity', describing it as a fluid that is secreted from the brain and flows through the nerves to activate the muscles.

Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)

One of Galvani's contemporaries did not agree with his explanation of electricity as a 'fluid' flowing through animals and metals. He also theorized that animal tissue was necessary for conduction of electricity. This led him to undertake various experiments to prove his theory. He replaced the frog leg with brine soaked paper, and observed a flow of electricity. Through his experiments he discovered that the electric current was the potential difference of the two metals connected by an electrolyte (brine soaked paper etc). He noted that zinc and silver was the most effective combination of dissimilar metals to produce electricity. His theory was proved when he invented the 'voltaic pile' in 1800. A series of copper and zinc discs separated by brine or acid soaked cardboard, the basis of all modern wet cell batteries, a very important discovery for science.

The Galvani vs Volta debate and their contributions to science

Although Galvani may have been wrong in his explanation of electricity as a 'fluid' his experiments, none the less were very important in the course of science. His discoveries were important to biomedical science, and he noted electricity was carried through the nerves to activate muscles. The 'fluid' part of his theory was wrong, but he was indeed right about electricity flowing through animals and humans through the nervous system. His explanation for electricity also sparked debate between him and Volta which caused Volta to make some very important scientific discoveries. Volta figured out that electricity was caused by the potential difference of two metals, and invented the first 'wet cell battery' the 'voltaic pile'. This was a very important invention for science, as it was the basis for modern batteries and it helped power experiments of the 19th century. Both Galvani's