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What do Alessandro Volta and Green Lantern have in common?

National Battery Day.

Volta is the father of the battery. Maybe not as we think of it today, but his combination of silver, cloth/paper soaked in salt or acid and zinc forming “voltaic piles” generated the first limited, portable electrical current.

Alan Scott was the Golden Age Green Lantern. The lantern served as a battery to power his ring.

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Thus, we have however-many-degrees-of-separation between Volta and Green Lantern joined for the non-holiday.

While the Italian scientist invented the first battery, England’s William Cruckshank designed batteries for mass consumption in 1802.

The battery was improved upon over time. In 1896, the National Carbon Company, later christened the Eveready Battery Company, produced the first commercially available battery. Two years later, the first D-sized battery was unveiled for flashlights.

Martin Nodell and Bill Finger birthed the first Green Lantern.

The Golden Age Green Lantern, aka Alan Scott, became owner of a magic lantern. With the lantern he was able to create a ring allowing him a variety of powers.

By the early 1950s, the Golden Age mystery men had fallen out of favor. It would be almost a decade before another Green Lantern would grace comic book pages.

Following the success of the Silver Age Flash’s debut, DC Comic’s revamped Green Lantern. The 1959 version was sleeker and received his lantern and ring courtesy of an alien from space.

From his debut in Showcase issue 22, Green Lantern spawned an ever-growing legend that would include a corps of similar heroes who police the universe and beyond.

Together they help commemorate Volta’s birthday to honor a common tool we take for granted and the man who made it possible.

To celebrate, dust off the old flashlight and prop the covers over your head as you read an issue or two of Green Lantern by the light of the handheld device.