11 



THE BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 195G 



The Nobel Prize winners in an historic photograph taken in 1948 when the 



annonncement of the invention of the transistor icas made. Left to right, 



John Bardccn, William Shockley and Walter H. Brattain. 



electronics age." As new transistors and related semiconductor devices 

 are developed and improved, the possible fields of application for these 

 devices increase to such an extent that they may truly be said to have 

 "revolutionized the electronics art." 



The invention of the transistor, basis for the Nobel Prize award,' 

 represents an outstanding example of the combination of research team- 

 work and individual achievement in the Bell System that has meant so; 

 much to the rapid development of modern communications systems. 



Dr. Brattain received a B.S. degree from Whitman College in 1924, an 

 M.A. degree from the University of Oregon in 1926, and a Ph.D. degree 

 from the University of Minnesota in 1928. He joined Bell Telephone 

 Laboratories in 1929, and his early work was in the field of thermionics, 

 particularly the study of electron emission from hot surfaces. He also 

 studied frequency standards, magnetometers and infra-red phenomena. 



