Skip to content
Trackfame
Join
Walter Brattain
Science Technology

Walter Brattain

Bell Labs physicist who co-invented the transistor

10 February 1902 – 13 October 1987 United States Verified by our editors
Follow 0 followers Correction Cite
Lived
85 yrs
1902 – 1987
Works listed
1
Paper
Honours
3
Most recent 1956
Profile views
2
0 followers

Walter Brattain was an American physicist at Bell Labs who, with John Bardeen, built the first working transistor in December 1947. They shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics with William Shockley.

Biography

Early life

Brattain was born in Xiamen, China, where his American father was teaching, and grew up on a cattle ranch in Washington state. He studied at Whitman College and the University of Oregon and earned a PhD at the University of Minnesota.

Bell Labs

He joined Bell Labs in 1929 and studied the surface properties of semiconductors. During the Second World War he worked on detecting submarines.

The transistor

Working with theorist John Bardeen, Brattain — a skilled experimenter — pressed two gold contacts into a germanium crystal on 16 December 1947, creating an amplifier. The point-contact transistor was demonstrated to Bell Labs managers on 23 December.

Teaching

After Bell Labs he taught at his old college, Whitman, until 1972. He died in Seattle in 1987.

Timeline

  1. 1902

    Born in Xiamen, China

  2. 1929

    Joins Bell Labs

  3. 1947

    Transistor with John Bardeen

  4. 1952

    Stuart Ballantine Medal

  5. 1956

    Nobel Prize in Physics

  6. 1967

    Returns to Whitman College

  7. 1987

    Dies in Seattle

  8. 1987

    Died, aged 85

Notable works

  • 1948

    The Transistor, A Semi-Conductor Triode Paper

    With John Bardeen.

Awards and honours

  • Stuart Ballantine Medal

    1952

  • John Scott Award

    1954

  • Nobel Prize in Physics

    1956

Did you know?

  1. 1

    He grew up on a cattle ranch.

  2. 2

    He used a paper clip and gold foil in the first transistor.

  3. 3

    He worked at Bell Labs for nearly four decades.

Connections

Related people

Also born on 10 February

Frequently asked

Who is Walter Brattain?

Walter Brattain was an American physicist at Bell Labs who, with John Bardeen, built the first working transistor in December 1947. They shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics with William Shockley.

When did Walter Brattain die?

Walter Brattain died on 13 October 1987 at the age of 85.

Where is Walter Brattain from?

Walter Brattain was born in Xiamen, China.

What is Walter Brattain known for?

Walter Brattain is best known for Co-inventing the point-contact transistor (1947); Nobel Prize in Physics 1956.

What awards has Walter Brattain received?

Notable honours include Stuart Ballantine Medal (1952), John Scott Award (1954), Nobel Prize in Physics (1956).

References

  1. Walter Brattain — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  2. Walter Brattain — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  3. Walter Brattain — Nobel Prize facts. NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  4. Walter Brattain — Hindi Wikipedia. Wikipedia (Hindi). Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  5. Walter Brattain (Q184577) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.

Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Walter Brattain”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more

External links

Wikipedia
Filed under Bell LabsNobel PrizeTransistor Physicist

About this profile

Cite this page

“Walter Brattain.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/walter-brattain

Discussion 0

Sign in or create an account to join the discussion.

No comments yet — be the first.

More in Science

See all
Marvin Minsky Science

Marvin Minsky

Co-founder of MIT’s artificial intelligence laboratory and a founding father of AI

1927 – 2016

Nikola Tesla Science

Nikola Tesla

Serbian-American inventor of the alternating-current induction motor

1856 – 1943

Margaret Hamilton Science

Margaret Hamilton

MIT engineer who led the software for the Apollo Moon landings and coined “software engineering”

1936 – 2026

Yann LeCun Science

Yann LeCun

French-American AI pioneer who invented convolutional neural networks

Born 1959

Peter Naur Science

Peter Naur

Danish computer scientist who edited the ALGOL 60 report and refined Backus–Naur form

1928 – 2016

Michael Faraday Science

Michael Faraday

Self-taught scientist who discovered electromagnetic induction

1791 – 1867