Five great inventions we owe to Italians

A lot of people see Italy as the perfect destination for their vacation, providing tourists with countless opportunities for entertainment and recreation. However, very few realize that Italy is also the homeland of quite a few inventions that have had a great contribution to the improvement of people’s overall quality of life throughout history. Are you interested in finding out which things from our daily life we owe to Italians? Then keep on reading.



The Battery (La batteria)
How often did you use your car last month? Oh, you do not have your own car? How about your laptop then, or your mobile phone? Your clock, camcorder, or the remote control of your TV? A lot, I guess. Well, using none of these would actually be possible if it was not for the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, who will be forever remembered as “he who invented the battery”.

Volta’s mechanism, developed in the early 1880s, consisted of two discs, one made out of zinc and one made out of copper, and sulfuric acid. The electric cell or the Voltaic Pile, as it was initially called, provided the world with the first practical method of generating and storing electricity. Apart from his findings in the field of physics, Alessandro Volta is also the one who discovered methane, the key component of natural gas and a cheap fuel used mainly for domestic needs.

The Thermometer (Il termometro)
A physicist and mathematician, astronomer and philosopher: Galileo Galilei was truly an amazing scientist with unquestionable contribution to modern science. He is known mostly for his support for the initially controversial idea of heliocentrism, i.e. the belief that the Sun is the center of the Solar system as opposed to the Earth, which was stated as such in the Bible. However, Galileo is also the one who developed the first instrument for measuring and indicating temperature.

The thermoscope, as it was first named, used the chemical properties of water and several other substances in order to indicate changes in temperature. The invention of Galileo is actually quite different from what modern thermometers are since multiple improvements have been introduced since Galileo constructed the first one in 1593. Surprisingly, one of the major improvements, the introduction of the numerical scale which can be found on each and every non-digital modern thermometer, was designed by another Italian, Santorio Santorio, in 1612.

The Glasses (Gli occhiali)
Although lens have become pretty popular these days, the majority of people who are experiencing problems with their sight still prefer wearing glasses. So where did the history of this  useful utility begin? Unfortunately, the exact time and place are unknown, however, it is supposed that it happened somewhere in the North of Italy between 1280-1300. Most people assume that Salvino degli Armati, a man from the city of Florence, was the inventor of the glasses, while others believe they were first created by a monk named Alessandro Spina.

Though we cannot say precisely who and when invented the glasses, thanks to the Italian painter Tomaso da Modena, we can be sure that it happened before 1350. In his painting one of the first users of glasses can be observed: a high-ranked member of the Catholic Church is depicted holding a monocle with his right hand while reading a book. Even though the glasses have been improved a lot throughout the centuries in order to meet the individual needs of people and most recently, in order to follow up with different fashion trends, we cannot reject the fact that this is all because of an Italian man. Whoever he is, we sure owe him one big “Thank you”!

The Piano (Il pianoforte)

Man has known that strings can produce sound ever since prehistoric times, however, not until the early years of the Renaissance (il Rinascimento) has he developed a single stringed musical instrument. The first instrument of such kind, the harpsichord, was revolutionary in its own way, but lacked the opportunity to express the performers’ full potential because this instrument was limited to one, unvarying volume.

When there is a problem, hopefully there is someone who comes to fix it. The solution for the limited capabilities of the harpsichord was developed by the harpsichord maker from Padua named Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori. Once it was invented in 1709, the piano quickly became popular across Europe, outperforming the harpsichord as the most abundant string instrument, and it had become over a hundred years old by the time Beethoven was creating his masterpieces. Can you imagine what would have happened with his symphonies and sonatas if the piano was not invented? They probably would not exist!

The Nuclear Generator (Il reattore nucleare)

As of February 2013, 30 countries worldwide are operating 437 nuclear reactors for electricity generation and 71 new nuclear plants are under construction in 14 countries. The existence of nuclear power plants, although sometimes causing serious trouble for the environment and/or for mankind itself (like the accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima, for instance) has proven to be one of the cheapest and most efficient ways to produce electricity in the modern age. So, what is the name of the guy who is behind this controversial invention? There are actually two of them: Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard.

Enrico Fermi, an Italian born in Rome, was the one who had a greater contribution to the development of the nuclear generator, especially when it came down to hands-on work. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1938 and the opportunity to become a professor at a university in the US. The talented scientist is also known for a couple of other significant discoveries, some of which, unfortunately led to the later creation of the atomic bomb. Nonetheless, with great power comes great responsibility. It is not Enrico’s fault that his findings were misused. For providing Europe with this new opportunity to produce 28,5% of its energy (can be compared with the whole world, which produces roughly 12,3% of its electricity in nuclear power plants), Enrico Fermi deserves our sincere admiration.