It would be a much different world, a world in which the automobile and the telephone would have developed differently and probably later, a world without many of the conveniences of modern life and without some of the necessities. The battery, ever smaller and more powerful, defines much of our modern comforts and advances.

There were many scientific and technological advances on the way to those smaller and more powerful batteries. One of the major leaps in the history of the development of the battery was the introduction of the Columbia dry cell in the 1890s by the National Carbon Company, forerunner of the Energizer Company.

The American Chemical Society recognized the importance of the Columbia dry cell by designating its development and distribution as a National Historic Chemical Landmark on September 27, 2005.