Experimental semiconductor physics · 1902–1987

Walter Houser Brattain

Brattain was an experimental physicist at Bell Labs who worked with Bardeen on semiconductor surfaces. Their germanium device achieved amplification in 1947, an essential step toward practical solid-state electronics. In his Nobel lecture, Brattain explicitly described himself as representing a wider community and credited colleagues who prepared the materials, discovered junction behavior, and built the field’s experimental foundations.