Walter Brattain (born 10.02.1902) is an American physicist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (1959). He was born in Amoy (China). He graduated from Whitman College (Oregon) (1924). In 1929-67 he worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories.
His research concerned the physics and technology of semiconductors. He studied the surface properties of semiconductors, the semiconducting properties of copper oxide, the optical properties of germanium films, the dependence of conductivity on irradiation by alpha particles, and the mechanism of recombination. Together with J. Bardeen he discovered the transistor effect in 1948 and built the first semiconductor transistor — a point-contact crystal triode. He improved the technique of injecting carriers into semiconductors and of measurements with alternating current. In 1954—55, with C. Garrett, he studied the properties of the germanium surface by placing it in electrolyte solutions, and developed methods of producing p-type and n-type surfaces. For his research on semiconductors and the discovery of the transistor effect he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1956, together with J. Bardeen and W. Shockley.