Modern Technologies That Are Way Older Than You Think

Battery - 1800

On March 20, the Volta battery — designed by Italian inventor Alessandro Volta — will celebrate its 216th birthday. Volta initially called the device an "artificial electric organ," in response to the prevailing theory at the time that animal tissue was necessary for conductivity. Instead he used stacked metal disks and brine-soaked rags. They conducted electricity. The battery was born.