15 moments

1. Birth in Amoy

   1902-02-10 · Xiamen (historical Amoy), Fujian, China

   Walter Houser Brattain was born in Amoy, now Xiamen, in Fujian. His father taught at the Ting-Wen Institute there. Coordinates represent central Xiamen; the precise birth building is not identified.

2. Childhood in Spokane

   1903-01-01 · Spokane, Washington, United States

   After returning from China with his parents, Brattain spent the remembered part of his early childhood in Spokane. The source establishes residence beginning in 1903 but does not identify a street address.

3. Family ranch near Tonasket

   1911-01-01 · Tonasket, Washington, United States

   The Brattain family settled on a cattle ranch near Tonasket, the setting of much of Walter Brattain’s youth. Coordinates represent Tonasket because the ranch's precise location is not supplied.

4. Whitman College degree

   1924-01-01 · Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, United States

   

   Brattain completed his undergraduate education at Whitman College, earning a Bachelor of Science with majors in physics and mathematics.

5. Master's degree at the University of Oregon

   1926-01-01 · University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States

   

   Brattain received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Oregon before proceeding to doctoral work.

6. National Bureau of Standards research

   1928-01-01 · National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C., United States

   Brattain worked at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., helping develop piezoelectric frequency standards before joining Bell Laboratories. Coordinates approximate the former National Bureau of Standards site in northwest Washington, D.C.

7. Doctoral degree at the University of Minnesota

   1929-01-01 · University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

   

   Brattain completed a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota; his thesis concerned electron-impact excitation and mercury-vapor scattering.

8. Michigan summer school lectures

   1931-01-01 · University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

   Bell Laboratories allowed Brattain to attend Arnold Sommerfeld's course at the University of Michigan's 1931 summer school in theoretical physics.

9. West Street Bell Laboratories work

   1934-01-01 · Bell Telephone Laboratories, West Street, New York, New York, United States

   

   While living in Greenwich Village, Brattain worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories' West Street laboratories, where his early work centered on surfaces, emission, and rectifiers. Coordinates represent the former Bell Laboratories West Street complex.

10. Wartime submarine-detection research

    1942-01-01 · Columbia University, New York, New York, United States

    During World War II, Brattain worked with the National Defense Research Committee at Columbia University on magnetic detection of submarines. A Bell System Technical Journal biographical notice dates this Columbia assignment to 1942–1944; 1942 is used as the documented starting year.

11. Point-contact transistor work

    1947-11-17 · Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, United States

    

    At Bell Telephone Laboratories' Murray Hill site, Brattain and John Bardeen developed and demonstrated the point-contact germanium transistor during the November–December 1947 work period. Coordinates represent the historic Bell Laboratories Murray Hill/New Providence campus; the cited room was in Building 1.

12. Visiting lecturer at Harvard

    1952-01-01 · Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

    Brattain taught at Harvard University as a visiting lecturer while continuing his Bell Laboratories research career.

13. Return to Whitman as visiting lecturer

    1962-01-01 · Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, United States

    Brattain began teaching physics at his alma mater, Whitman College, as a visiting lecturer, beginning a long late-career academic association with the college.

14. Whitman adjunct professorship

    1972-01-01 · Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, United States

    After serving as a visiting lecturer and visiting professor, Brattain became an adjunct professor at Whitman College and continued teaching there through 1976. The Franklin Institute biography gives 1967 for his adjunct appointment, while Whitman's archival finding aid describes adjunct service from 1972 through 1976. This card uses 1972 for the better-supported institutional chronology.

15. Death in Seattle

    1987-10-13 · Seattle, Washington, United States

    Brattain spent his final years in a Seattle nursing home and died there of Alzheimer's disease at age 85. The nursing home's precise location is not identified; coordinates represent central Seattle.