Electric Blue. Hydrangeas, Parco di Villa Olmo, and the Tempio Voltiano, Como, Italy
We all associate electricity with blue. Dazzling lightning, static sparks... Anyway, for me the association is also with the great Italian scientist from Como, Alessandro Volta (1745-1827). He was a man of many inventions in physics and chemophysics. Of course notable for inventing the first electric battery (=voltaic pile) in 1799. But before that he'd already discovered the gas methane in 1776. Methane is odorless and colorless but it burns with a blue flame. Volta is honored by the Tempio Voltiano (1925-1927), a museum in neoclassical style in Como devoted to him and his work (see inset, and note the electrical light on the right).
All that energetic blueness!!! And here are blue Hydrangeas, too, in the Parco di Villa Olmo just up the road. Hydrangeas were introduced to Europe precisely in Volta's times.
Electric Blue. Hydrangeas, Parco di Villa Olmo, and the Tempio Voltiano, Como, Italy
We all associate electricity with blue. Dazzling lightning, static sparks... Anyway, for me the association is also with the great Italian scientist from Como, Alessandro Volta (1745-1827). He was a man of many inventions in physics and chemophysics. Of course notable for inventing the first electric battery (=voltaic pile) in 1799. But before that he'd already discovered the gas methane in 1776. Methane is odorless and colorless but it burns with a blue flame. Volta is honored by the Tempio Voltiano (1925-1927), a museum in neoclassical style in Como devoted to him and his work (see inset, and note the electrical light on the right).
All that energetic blueness!!! And here are blue Hydrangeas, too, in the Parco di Villa Olmo just up the road. Hydrangeas were introduced to Europe precisely in Volta's times.