Learn about the history of batteries, the basic concept of the operation of batteries and new advancements in batteries. In 1999 we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the invention of the battery by Alessandro Volta. Alessandro Volta Biography of the inventor of the battery, Alessandro Volta. Alkaline Battery Lew Urry developed the small alkaline battery in 1949. The inventor was working for the Eveready Battery Co. at their research laboratory in Parma, Ohio.
Alkaline batteries last five to eight times as long as zinc-carbon cells, their predecessors.
This was not a patentable invention, since Volta and others long ago created the principles of batteries. Solar Battery A solar battery converts the sun's energy to electricity. Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin invented the first solar battery in 1954. Bell Laboratories in New York announced the prototype manufacture of a new solar battery. Bell had funded the research.