Electric organ (biology) in research because of their resemblance to nerve-muscle junctions. The stack of electrocytes has long been compared to a voltaic pile, and may even have inspired the invention of the battery, since the analogy was already noted by Alessandro Volta. While the electric organ is structurally similar to a battery, its cycle of operation is more like a Marx generator, in that the individual elements are slowly charged in parallel, then suddenly and nearly simultaneously discharged in series to produce a high voltage pulse. To discharge the electrocytes at the correct time, the electric eel uses its pacemaker nucleus, a
1827 Atkinson survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, "Atkinson" measures 8.855 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.249. This minor planet was named after British astronomer, physicist and inventor, Robert d'Escourt Atkinson (1898–1982), noted for his contributions to fundamental astronomy. Atkinson pioneered in studying nuclear energy-generation in the Sun and stars. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center before November 1977 (). 1827 Atkinson 1827 Atkinson, provisional designation , is a background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It