Walter Houser Brattain was a pioneering American physicist born on February 10, 1902, in Amoy, China, to missionary parents who later settled on a cattle ranch in Washington state. He earned his doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota in 1929 and immediately joined Bell Telephone Laboratories as a research physicist, where he remained for nearly five decades. Brattain's early career included significant work at the National Bureau of Standards on piezoelectric frequency standards and thermionic emission research. During World War II, he contributed to national defense efforts through the National Defense Research Committee at Columbia University, where he developed highly sensitive magnetometers for submarine detection.
Dr. Brattain's most significant contribution was his co-invention of the point-contact transistor in December 1947, working alongside John Bardeen at Bell Labs under William Shockley's research group. This groundbreaking device, which replaced bulky vacuum tubes with a smaller, more efficient semiconductor component, revolutionized electronics and laid the foundation for the modern information age. His meticulous experimental work on semiconductor surfaces, particularly the discovery of the photo-effect at the free surface of semiconductors, provided critical insights into surface states that enabled the transistor's development. The Nobel Committee specifically recognized these contributions when awarding Brattain, Bardeen, and Shockley the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for their research on semiconductors and the discovery of the transistor effect.
Brattain's career exemplifies the profound impact of focused experimental physics on technological advancement, with his work establishing fundamental principles for semiconductor device physics that continue to guide modern electronics. After retiring from Bell Labs in 1967, he shared his expertise as an adjunct professor at Whitman College, his undergraduate alma mater, where he taught until 1976. His research legacy extends beyond the transistor to include important contributions to understanding surface properties of solids, magnetometer design, and infrared detection. Walter Brattain passed away on October 13, 1987, in Seattle, leaving an enduring legacy as one of the architects of the electronic revolution whose work fundamentally transformed communication, computing, and countless aspects of modern life.
