Dear ITS members,

200 years ago, on August 16, 1821, Thomas Johann Seebeck reported to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin about his discovery of thermoelectricity. Although slightly belated:

Happy Anniversary, Thermoelectricity!

We would like to celebrate this event by sharing with you something quite unique. As we all know, Seebeck was not the first to observe a thermoelectric effect, which was described about fifty years before by Alessandro Volta. Differently from Seebeck’s report, we believe that very few had a chance to read Alessandro Volta’s letter since, to the best of our knowledge, it has never been fully translated into English.

Thus, we attach to this message the translation of Volta’s letter, made on purpose for this bicentennial.

We hope you will enjoy it.
Best
The ITS Board of Directors 

Click on image to access PDF!