Italy pushes to rename electricity unit ‘Volt’ as ‘Volta’ in tribute to Alessandro Volta

New Delhi ( Vivek Ojha) : Italy’s government is pushing to rename the international unit of electrical potential from “volt” to “volta” in honour of Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, more than 200 years after his death, according to a Politico report.

Volta, credited with inventing the electric battery and discovering methane, gave his name to the unit “volt,” though in an anglicised form.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government now wants to restore the original Italian spelling by reintroducing the final “a”, added the report.

The initiative gained momentum on Thursday when Italy’s junior digital minister Alessio Butti discussed the proposal with Annette Koo, director general of the Paris-based Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), the international body responsible for measurement standards.

Italian officials hope the proposal can be put to a vote at the General Conference of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in October this year.

Italian physicist Alessandro Volta is best known for inventing the electric pile — considered the precursor to the modern electric battery — between 1799 and 1800.