Seeing the electric beast, the Tesla Cybertruck, on the South Lawn of the White House brought to mind Alessandro Volta’s breakthrough at the turn of the nineteenth century...
The Breezer -the joyride for a curious mind: A weekly newsletter from me, Steve Winduss, at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me discovering historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. Add to that updates relating to the podcast, a touch of humour and a dash of "lots more".16th March 2025.
Happy Sunday! Earlier this week I watched President Donald Trump check out one or two of Elon’s electric cars on the South Lawn of the White House. The most striking of these Teslas has to be the stainless steel, bulletproof beast - Cybertruck. The display of muscle brought to mind how our ability to harness electric power has evolved since Alessandro Volta’s breakthrough at the turn of the nineteenth century.
Tesla's Cybertruck Top speed: 130 miles per hour Range: over 300 miles Acceleration: from 0-60 mph in 2.6 seconds Weight: 7,000 pounds (3,175 kg)
The notion of electricity has been a part of human understanding for centuries. In the 500-600s BCE, the ancient Greeks noted that rubbing amber - fossilised tree resin - against fur created ‘static electricity’, which could attract lightweight objects. If you ever rubbed an inflated balloon against your woolly jumper and then ‘stuck’ it to a wall, you were experiencing static electricity. The Greek term for amber was ‘elektron’. As Greek language spread across the Mediterranean, the expanding Roman Empire incorporated elements of Greek vocabulary. The Greek elektron became the Latin ‘electrum’ during the period leading up to 500 CE.
A hair-raising electrostatic experiment at the Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 1954.
The transition from elektron to electrum lasted 1,000 years. Another millennium would pass before a deeper understanding of electricity emerged. In 1600, William Gilbert (sometimes referred to as the ‘Father of Electricity’) demonstrated that magnetism and electricity were two different, but related, concepts. He referred to ‘electricitus’. Another 200 years passed. Electricitus remained tethered to the idea of static electricity.
It is true that in the late 18th century, Benjamin Franklin had advanced our understanding of static electricity. But it was still static. Famously, he conducted the Kite Experiment in 1752. This involved flying a kite, tipped with a metal spike, in the vicinity of thunder clouds. The kite collected electrical charge from the atmosphere and visibly repelled the threads of the wet hemp cord tied to the kite. In addition, Franklin attached a key to the cord and observed a spark between the key and his finger as he brought them closer together. Static electricity.
Benjamin Franklin’s Kite Experiment, showing sparking between key and finger. Painting by Benjamin West, circa 1816.
The year 1800 was a watershed moment in the study of electricity. The ponderous learning curve was about to accelerate dramatically. Alessandro Volta was born in February 1745 in Como, Italy, just over 280 years ago. Despite being encouraged to follow a vocation as a Jesuit priest, he chose science. Volta had cut his scientific teeth improving the design of the ‘Electrophorus’, a gadget that could create repeated bursts of static electricity. Although it didn’t create any significant power output, the Electrophorus was instrumental in progressing the understanding of electricity. However, Volta’s electrical ‘Eureka moment’ occurred due to a dispute with fellow scientist, Luigi Galvani, professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, Italy.
In the late 1770s, Luigi Galvani had a specific interest in the anatomy of frogs. On one occasion, he happened to press a statically charged fork against the exposed nerve of a dissected frog. Much to his astonishment, the frog’s legs twitched. Galvani concluded that the frog was producing ‘animal electricity’. Alessandro disputed this conclusion. He believed that the electricity was the product of the zinc and copper fork making contact with ‘electrolytes’ in the frog.
Luigi Galvani’s frog’s legs electricity experiment.
Volta’s debate with Galvani ignited a spark. He set about constructing a ‘Voltaic Pile’, the world’s first recognised electric battery able to produce continuous current. The Voltaic Pile consisted of alternate discs of zinc and copper, each disc separated from the next by cardboard. When Volta submerged the discs in a saltwater solution, an electrical current was generated. While today’s car batteries provide much greater power and efficiency than the Voltaic Pile, the action of ions moving through an electrolyte from one metal to another is the same. Alessandro Volta reported details of his Voltaic Pile to Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society of London, 225 years ago this Thursday, 20 March 1800.
Out of Curiosity…
The Royal Society of London, based at Carlton House Terrace overlooking The Mall and St James’s Park, is the longest-running scientific academy in the world. Founded in 1660, it aims to promote science through experimentation and collaboration for the benefit of mankind. Apart from Alessandro Volta’s Pile, the Society has supported: - Isaac Newton’s work on the Laws of Motion and the Universal Law of Gravitation - Captain James Cook’s first antipodean voyage of discovery (accompanied by Joseph Banks himself) - Albert Einstein’s work on the Theory of Relativity.
Since the first discovery of static electricity, mankind had taken over 2,000 years to invent the first electrical battery. With the help of Alessandro Volta, it took just 200 more years to create highly sophisticated, high-speed, all-electric power machines such as Elon Musk’s Cybertruck. In recognition of Volta’s lifetime work and, in particular, his invention of the Voltaic Pile, the unit of electrical potential, the 'volt', was named in his honour. Volta died in 1827 in his home town of Como, Italy. He was 82 years old.
Alessandro Volta experiments with his Voltaic Pile, 1800.
Out of Curiosity…
Galvani’s nephew, Giovanni Aldini, took Luigi’s experimentation with frogs to a new level. In 1803, he connected one of Volta’s Voltaic Piles to the corpse of convicted murderer George Foster. Foster’s lifeless body started twitching, one eye opened and his hands contracted. He didn’t sit up, but I am sure after a few revisionist versions of the spectacle... he did. Aldini conducted similar experiments in public. Reaction to the macabre demonstrations ranged from shock and horror to fascination. Some believed the bodies had come back to life. Philosophical circles revisited the relationship between life and death. Such discussions influenced the young author Mary Shelley to write her classic novel Frankenstein in 1817. In the story, Victor Frankenstein is a young scientist who creates a monster from various body parts which comes to life, causing havoc. Although Shelley doesn't directly refer to electricity as the magic ingredient, at one point Frankenstein recalls seeing lightning strike a tree, which inspires him to investigate further.
Also, recalling the moment that he brings the monster to life, Frankenstein states...
With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet.
The Scottish inventor Robert Anderson was born 220 years ago tomorrow, 17 March 1805*. In the 1830s, Anderson produced one of the earliest known electric vehicles, known prosaically as the ‘Electric Carriage’. The carriage was powered by non-rechargeable batteries connected to an electric motor. The motor propelled the carriage. The batteries discharged over a short distance. As they were non-rechargeable, the design was impractical. However, the Electric Carriage provided proof that electrical propulsion was possible. *Exact date disputed.
Anderson's Electric Carriage Top speed: 2-3 miles per hour Range: less than 1 mile Acceleration: imperceptible Weight: 1,000 pounds (450 kg)
Dates with History
Tomorrow…
Maewyn Succat* was born in the late 4th century, somewhere in Britain, son of a Roman-British army officer. When he was 16, pirates kidnapped Maewyn and sold him into slavery in Ireland. During his captivity, he worked as a shepherd and embraced Christianity. Six years later, Maewyn escaped and returned to Britain. However, he had received a calling from God, so he entered the priesthood and changed his name to Patricius, or Patrick. Patrick was later appointed a bishop before returning to Ireland in 433 to carry out missionary work. Over the next 28 years, Patrick converted thousands of Irish to Christianity. He is credited with transforming the Irish nation from its pagan roots to a fundamentally Christian land. Although the Catholic Church didn’t canonise Patrick (canonisation didn’t formally appear until the 10th century), his legacy endured. The popular vote of the people of Ireland ordained him Saint Patrick, their patron saint. Saint Patrick died on the 17 March 461. Happy St Patrick’s Day tomorrow for those Irish folk and descendants among you. *Maewyn Succat isn’t universally accepted as St Patrick’s birth name, but is the most commonly quoted.
St Patrick with a shamrock in a stained glass window at the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows at Navy Pier, Chicago.
Lawrence Edward Grace ‘Titus’ Oates was born 145 years ago tomorrow, 17 March 1880 in Putney, London. Oates attended Eton College and served in the Boer War in 1901. After the war, Oates remained in the military. His experience with horses prompted his selection for the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition of 1910, led by Robert Falcon Scott. Oates was part of the five-man team that reached the South Pole in January 1912, only to find that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten them there. Devasted, exhausted and hungry, they began to make their way back to base camp. After two desperate months, Scott and his team had made little headway. Edgar Evans, infected with frostbite, had perished in February. Realising that his own condition was slowing the team down, Lawrence Oates made the ultimate sacrifice. He left the camp and walked out into the blizzard during the night… and kept walking to his death. It was an act of poignant symmetry. Oates had conspired to die on his 32nd birthday, 17 March 1912. His body was never found. Lawrence Oates’ last immortalised words on leaving the camp the night before had been…
I am just going outside and may be some time.
Robert Scott’s last diary entry followed twelve days later, 29 March 1912. He was assumed to have perished the same day with his remaining team, Edward Wilson and Henry ‘Birdie’ Bowers.
Terra Nova Expedition reaches the South Pole. From top left moving clockwise: Lawrence Oates, Robert Scott, Edgar Evans, Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers. 17 January, 1912.
Tuesday…
Alexei Leonov was born in 1934 in Listvyanka, Siberia, the eighth of nine children. Alexei was introduced to a Soviet pilot when he was six, leading to a fascination with aviation. Twenty years later, after a career in the Soviet Air Force, Alexei was selected for cosmonaut training. Sixty years ago this Tuesday, 18 March 1965, Alexei Leonov became the first human to walk in space. Ninety minutes into the Voskhod 2 mission, Leonov exited the spacecraft and spent 12 minutes floating in space, tethered only by a five-metre-long umbilical cord. The return to Earth didn’t go as smoothly. The module landed 600 miles off target in the Ural Mountains. Leonov and his crewmate had landed in dense forest. Bears and wolves surrounded them for two days before being reached by the rescue team. Alexei Leonov died in Moscow in 2019, aged 85.
Out of curiosity... Christoph Waltz, the Austrian-German actor, best known for his starring role in Django Unchained, was born 25,000 days ago today.
On this Day
17 March 1905
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, married Eleanor Roosevelt 120 years ago tomorrow, St Patrick’s Day. Eleanor’s father was Elliott Roosevelt, the younger brother of 26th President Theodore Roosevelt, so she kept her last name. Since Franklin and Theodore were distant relatives, you might be wondering if Franklin and Eleanor were related before marriage. They were, but as fifth cousins once removed, societal prejudice and consanguinity issues didn’t materialise.
Eleanor Roosevelt wearing her wedding dress shortly before her marriage to Franklin Roosevelt, 1905.
While Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were celebrating their nuptials in New York City, a few thousand miles away in Bern, Switzerland, Albert Einstein was completing his paper on the photoelectric effect. Einstein proposed that light exists not only as waves but also as particles, now called photons. Not surprisingly, this revolutionary idea of waves and particles co-existing was initially greeted with scepticism. However, today, these principles are enshrined in modern work on quantum mechanics - the study of atoms and subatomic particles. In each home, the modern domestic electronic devices that we take for granted - smartphones, personal computers, televisions, cars and audio systems - contain thousands of computer chips and billions of transistors, made possible by Einstein’s work on the photoelectric effect.
Question of the Week
One hundred and sixty-five years ago this Friday, 21 March 1860, the Warwickshire-born Mary Ann Evans completed her novel The Mill on the Floss. The work is still in print today and considered a classic Victorian literary text, regularly studied in school English Literature programs. The book features the Tulliver family who live at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss, Lincolnshire. The story centres on Maggie, the daughter, who experiences a wide range of human desires and emotions, all constrained by social expectations. The work is considered to be partly autobiographical. Evans models much of Maggie’s personality and traits on herself. Mary Ann Evans wrote all her books, including The Mill on the Floss, under a pen name. What is it?
And Finally…
The mighty fortress of Scottish rugby union, Murrayfield in Edinburgh, was officially opened 100 years ago this Friday, 21 March 1925. I have fond memories of Murrayfield. As a university student in 1984, I went to Edinburgh to watch the 100th Scotland v England game. Unfortunately, the Scots won 18-6 but I was staying with a Scottish mate and….. they do know how to celebrate. The following morning, Sunday, with sore heads, we jogged back down to the stadium. To our surprise, one of the service gates was open. We walked straight into Murrayfield, unchallenged. Within moments, we were on the hallowed turf. We kept walking until we reached the far try line. Still no-one appeared. So we turned, tennis ball in hand (well, it’s all we had), and started running the length of the pitch. In our fertile imaginations, Crawfurd was the formidable Scot, Iain Paxton, while I was English legendary flanker, Peter Winterbottom. Paxton to Winterbottom, Winterbottom to Paxton…. The tennis ball pinged back and forth as we crossed the halfway line, surely destined to score a magnificent bipartisan try, when……. …..from every orifice, angry Scottish groundsmen appeared. They waved corner posts and pitch forks, growling, “Ach, get aff the pitch, ye scrawny, spotty dobbers! Awa’ an’ bile yer heid, or we’ll gie ye a kelp off the lug”. We spotty dobbers didn’t wait to find out if the threat of head-boiling was real, and certainly didn’t fancy a kelp off the lug. So Paxton and Winterbottom abandoned the tennis ball and ran hell-for-leather back out of the stadium. Great memories.
There, right there! Murrayfield today. New stadium, same pitch.
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Steve
HOST & CHIEF STORY HUNTER
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Question of the week… Answer
Mary Ann Evans wrote all her books under the pseudonym George Eliot. Evans chose to stick with this male pen name through an era when female writers’ works were often treated less seriously than they deserved.
Portrait of George Eliot by Samuel Laurence, 1860.
ATTRIBUTIONS
A hair-raising experiment at the Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 1954: CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Benjamin Franklin’s Kite Experiment, showing sparking between key and finger: Benjamin West, circa 1816, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Luigi Galvani’s frog’s legs electricity experiment: Luigi Galvani, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Alessandro Volta experiments with his Voltaic Pile, 1800: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
St Patrick with a shamrock in a stained glass window at the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows at Navy Pier, Chicago: Courtesy of Thad Zajdowicz.
Terra Nova Expedition reaches the South Pole. From top left moving clockwise: Lawrence Oates, Robert Scott, Edgar Evans, Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers. 17 January, 1912: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.