Alessandro Volta may have lived two centuries ago but his influence is all around us. It was Volta who built the first electric pile - or battery to use its more common name - and to celebrate the bicentenary of that event an exhibition has been created by the Centro di Cultura Scientifica Alessandro Volta. The exhibition exists in Italian, English, French and German. After opening in Volta's hometown of Como, it has been touring Europe and has already visited Berlin, Vienna, Zurich and Geneva.
On Tuesday 28 March - under the auspices of the Italian Delegation to the International Organizations and of Société Genevoise d'Études Italiennes - the first English version of the exhibition will come to CERN. This event comes almost two hundred years to the day since Volta presented his invention to the Royal Society in London. In the Main Auditorium, at 16:30 Professor Jean-François Fauvarque of Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) will give a speech entitled 'From the pile of Volta to fuel cells'. Doctor F. Canobbio Codelli, Director of the Centro di Cultura Scientifica Alessandro Volta and the initiator of the exhibition, will then briefly introduce it . After the inauguration refreshments will be available. The exhibition will remain open in the main building for three weeks. Come along, you're bound to find it electrifying!