Gaston Planté (French pronunciation: [ʁɛmɔ̃ lwi ɡastɔ̃ plɑ̃te]; 22 April 1834 – 21 May 1889) was a French physicist who created the lead–acid battery in 1859. This type of battery was the first rechargeable electric battery sold for use in businesses, and it is still widely used in cars today.

Planté was born on 22 April 1834 in Orthez, France. In 1854, he began helping teach physics at the Conservatory of Arts and Crafts in Paris. In 1860, he became a professor of physics at the Polytechnic Association for the Development of Popular Instruction. An amphitheater at that school is named after him.

In 1855, Planté discovered the first fossils of the prehistoric flightless bird Gastornis parisiensis (named after him) near Paris. This large animal was closely related to the well-known diatrymas found in North America. At that time, Planté was starting his academic career, working as a teaching assistant to A. E. Becquerel, the father of Henri Becquerel, who later won a Nobel Prize. This early discovery, which caused excitement in 1855, was later overshadowed by Planté’s other achievements.

He was chosen to be a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1882.

Lead-acid battery

In 1859, Planté created the lead-acid cell, which was the first rechargeable battery. His early design used a spiral made of two sheets of pure lead. These sheets were separated by a linen cloth and placed inside a glass jar filled with sulfuric acid solution. The next year, he showed a nine-cell lead-acid battery to the Academy of Sciences. In 1881, Camille Alphonse Faure made a more efficient and reliable version of this battery, which was widely used in early electric cars.

Planté also studied the differences between static electricity and dynamic electricity (electricity from batteries). During this research, he invented a mechanical device called the Rheostatic Machine. This device used a group of mica capacitors, a rotating commutator, and a series of contacts. It alternately charged the capacitors in parallel (from a high-voltage battery) and then connected them in series. This setup increased the battery voltage by the number of capacitor stages, creating very high voltages. By quickly spinning the machine’s shaft, it produced long sparks of high voltage. This invention was an early mechanical version of the modern Marx generator. Using this device, Planté studied how air breaks down electrically, how Lichtenberg figures form, and how thin wires behave when exposed to strong electric currents.

Death and legacy

He passed away on May 21, 1889, in the Bellevue area of Meudon, near Paris. In 1989, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences created the Gaston Planté Medal, which is given every few years to scientists who have made important contributions to the development of lead-acid battery technology.