Walter Brattain

Today is the birthday of Nobel laureate Walter Houser Brattain who was born in 1902. After earning his PhD from the University of Minnesota, Brattain work at the National Bureau of Standards for a year before taking a job at Bell Laboratories as a research physicist. Working with Joseph A. Becker, he studied thermionic emissions and various surface effects of semiconductors and discovered the photo-effect on the free surface of semiconductors. In the 1930s Brattain began working with William B. Shockley on the idea of using a copper oxide semiconductor amplifier to create a field effect transistor, but they were unsuccessful. After WW2, Brattain and Shockley along with John Bardeen returned to the idea and on 23 December 1947 demonstrated the first working transistor to their colleagues at Bell Labs. By amplifying and being used to switch electrical signals the transistor is the basis of all modern electronics. The three were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. Brattain continued to work on related subjects at Bell Labs until 1967 when he retired and became a professor at Whitman College, where he had done his undergraduate work. (Image credits: The Nobel organization; The US National Archives; AT&T)

Date in History: 10 February 1902