Walter Brattain

Walter Brattain
Walter Brattain
	Brattain in 1956
Born	Walter Houser Brattain; February 10, 1902; Amoy, Fujian, Qing China
Died	October 13, 1987 (aged 85); Seattle, Washington, US
Alma mater	Whitman College (BS); University of Oregon (MA); University of Minnesota (PhD);
Known for	Invention of the point-contact transistor
Spouses	; Karen Gilmore (m. 1935; died 1957) ; Emma Jane Miller (m. 1958)
Children	1
Relatives	Robert Brattain (brother)
Awards	Stuart Ballantine Medal (1952); John Scott Medal (1954); Nobel Prize in Physics (1956);
	Scientific career
Fields	Solid-state physics
Institutions	Bell Telephone Laboratories (1929–1967); Whitman College (1967–1976);
Thesis	Efficiency of Excitation by Electron Impact and Anomalous Scattering in Mercury Vapor (1929)
Doctoral advisor	John Torrence Tate Sr.

Walter Houser Brattain (/ˈbrætn/ BRAT-n; February 10, 1902 – October 13, 1987) was an American solid-state physicist who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Bardeen and William Shockley for their invention of the point-contact transistor. Brattain devoted much of his life to research on surface states.