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Biography of Walter H. Brattain
Name: Walter H. Brattain
Birth Date: February 10, 1902
Death Date: October 13, 1987
Place of Birth: Amoy, China
Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupations: physicist
Walter H. Brattain
The American physicist Walter H. Brattain (1902-1987), a co-inventor of the transistor, devoted much of his life to research on surface states.Although he was born in Amoy, China (February 10, 1902), Walter Houser Brattain spent the early part of his life in the northwest of the United States. He was raised in the state of Washington on a cattle ranch owned by his parents, Ross R. Brattain and Ottilie Houser, and earned his B.S. degree in physics and mathematics at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Brattain earned that degree in 1924 and an M.A. degree from the University of Oregon in 1926. He then moved eastward, taking his Ph.D. degree in physics at the University of Minnesota in 1929. Brattain's advisor was John T. Tate, and his thesis was on electron impact in mercury vapor. In 1928 and 1929 he worked at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., and in 1929 …showed first 150 words…
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…showed last 150 words…all solid-state electronics." In the late 1990s, Brattain's invention could be found in cellular telephones, fax machines, computers, automatic cameras, satellites, and many other electronic devices. Further Reading The invention of the transistor has been described by Lillian Hoddeson in her article "The discovery of the point-contact transistor," Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences, 12 (1981-1982). Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain also recount their experiences in their Nobel addresses: John Bardeen, "Semiconductor research leading to the point contact transistor;" William Shockley, "Transistor technology evokes new physics;" and Walter H. Brattain, "Surface properties of semiconductor," all in Nobel Lectures: Physics, 1942-1962 (Amsterdam, 1964). Appended to each of these addresses is a short biography of the author. Bardeen's discussion of semiconductor surface states appeared in the article "Surface states and rectification at a metal semiconductor contact," Physical Review, 71 (1947). The first published description of the transistor is Bardeen and Brattain's article "The transistor, a semi-conductor triode," Physical Review, 74 (1948).
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