Italians Natta (the inventor of the first catalyst for the production of isotactic propylene and among the fathers of macromolecular chemistry, for which he won the Nobel prize for chemistry along with Karl Ziegler), Evangelista Torricelli (inventor of the barometer), Alessandro Volta (inventor of the electric battery), Guglielmo Marconi (inventor of radio), Antonio Meucci (known for developing a voice-communication apparatus, often credited as the inventor of the first telephone before even Alexander Graham Bell), Galileo Ferraris (one of the pioneers of AC power system, invented the first induction motor), Ettore Majorana (who discovered the Majorana fermions), and Carlo Rubbia (1984 Nobel
History of Italian culture (1700s) was significantly reduced, and it was a period of great thought and invention, with scientists such as Alessandro Volta and Luigi Galvani discovering new things and greatly contributing to Western science. Cesare Beccaria was also one of the greatest Italian Enlightenment writers, who was famous for his masterpiece "Of Crimes and Punishments" (1764), which was later translated into 22 languages. In it, Beccaria put forth some of the first modern arguments against the death penalty. His treatise was also the first full work of penology, advocating reform of the criminal law system. The book was the first full-scale work to