Italy Wants to Rename the Unit of Electric Potential to "Volta"

The government of Giorgia Meloni intends to rename the unit of measurement of electric potential. Rome proposes replacing the current international name "volt" with "volta" — in honor of Italian scientist Alessandro Volta.

Rome has put forward an unusual initiative in the field of scientific terminology: the government of Giorgia Meloni intends to achieve the renaming of the unit of measurement of electric potential — "volta" instead of the commonly accepted "volt".

The initiative appears to be symbolic and nationalist in character: Italian authorities want to emphasize that the unit is named after Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, and believe that its name should more accurately reflect the Italian origin of the scientist.

The International System of Units (SI), within which the designation "volt" is established, is regulated by international agreements and falls under the jurisdiction of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Any change in the name of a unit would require coordination at the international level, which makes the implementation of such an initiative an extremely difficult task.

Rome's proposal has already caused surprise in the scientific community: experts point out that changing the established terminology, enshrined in thousands of standards, textbooks, and technical documents worldwide, would entail enormous practical difficulties.