Editing Walter Houser Brattain (section)

== Biography ==
Walter Brattain was born in Amoy (now [[Xiamen]]), [[Fujian]], [[Qing China]], to American parents Ross R. Brattain and Ottilie Houser Brattain. His father was of Scottish descent, while his mother's parents were both immigrants from [[Stuttgart]], Germany.<ref name=prize>{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1956/brattain-bio.html |title=Walter Houser Brattain |access-date=December 8, 2014 |quote=Walter H. Brattain was born in Amoy, China, on February 10, 1902, the son of Ross R. Brattain and Ottilie Houser. ... |publisher=[[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] }}</ref><ref name="Bardeen1994" /> Ross R. Brattain was a teacher at the Ting-Wen Institute,<ref name=Fire/>{{rp|11}} a private school for Chinese boys; Ottilie Houser Brattain was a gifted mathematician.<ref name=ANBO2001>{{cite book|chapter=Brattain, Walter H. (1902–1987), Physicists, Physicists, Nobel Prize Winners|title=American National Biography Online|date=2001|doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1301949 |isbn=9780198606697|chapter-url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1301949|access-date=March 4, 2015|last1=Cooper |first1=David Y. }}</ref> Both were graduates of [[Whitman College]].<ref name=Bardeen1994/>{{rp|71}}<ref name=PBS1999>{{cite web|title=Robert Brattain|url=https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/addlbios/brattainr.html|website=PBS Online|access-date=March 4, 2015}}</ref> Ottilie and baby Walter returned to the United States in 1903, and Ross followed shortly afterward.<ref name=Fire/>{{rp|12}} The family lived for several years in [[Spokane, Washington]], then settled on a [[cattle ranch]] near [[Tonasket, Washington]] in 1911.<ref name=Fire/>{{rp|12}}<ref name=Bardeen1994/>{{rp|71}}

Brattain attended high school in Washington, spending one year at [[Queen Anne High School, Seattle|Queen Anne High School]] in [[Seattle]], two years at [[Tonasket High School]], and one year at [[Puget Sound Naval Academy#Moran School|Moran School for Boys]] on [[Bainbridge Island, Washington|Bainbridge Island]].<ref>{{cite web | last = Bardeed | first = John | title = Walter Houser Brattain, 1902–1987 | publisher = National Academy of Sciences | date = 1994 | url = http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/brattain-walter-h.pdf}}</ref>  Brattain then attended [[Whitman College]] in [[Walla Walla, Washington]], where he studied with Benjamin H. Brown (physics) and Walter A. Bratton (mathematics). He earned a [[bachelor's degree]] from Whitman in 1924, with a double major in physics and mathematics.<ref name=NWDA>{{cite web|last1=Coca|first1=Andreea|last2=McFarland|first2=Colleen|last3=Mallen|first3=Janet|last4=Hastings|first4=Emi|title=Guide to the Walter Brattain Family Papers 1860–1990|url=http://nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv72175|website=Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA)|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref> Brattain and his classmates [[Walker Bleakney]], [[Vladimir Rojansky]] and [[E. John Workman]] would all go on to have distinguished careers, later becoming known as "the four horsemen of physics".<ref name=Bardeen1994/>{{rp|71}} Brattain's brother [[Robert Brattain|Robert]], who followed him at Whitman College, also became a physicist.<ref name="Bardeen1994">{{cite book |last1=Bardeen |first1=John |url=https://www.nasonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/brattain-walter-h.pdf |title=Walter Houser Brattain 1902–1987 |date=1994 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=March 4, 2015}}</ref>{{rp|71}}

Brattain earned a [[Master of Arts]] from the [[University of Oregon]] in [[Eugene, Oregon|Eugene]] in 1926, and a Ph.D. from the [[University of Minnesota]] in 1929.<ref name=NWDA/><ref name=obit/> At Minnesota, Brattain had the opportunity to study the new field of [[quantum mechanics]] under [[John Hasbrouck Van Vleck]].  His thesis, supervised by [[John Torrence Tate, Sr.|John T. Tate]], was ''Efficiency of Excitation by Electron Impact and Anomalous Scattering in Mercury Vapor.''<ref name=Bardeen1994/>{{rp|72}}

Walter Brattain married twice. His first wife was chemist Keren Gilmore. They were married in 1935 and had a son, William G. Brattain, in 1943. Keren Gilmore Brattain died on April 10, 1957.<ref name=Keren1957>{{cite journal|title=Necrology|journal=Chemical and Engineering News|date=May 13, 1957|volume=35|issue=19|page=58|doi=10.1021/cen-v035n019.p058}}</ref> The following year, Brattain married Mrs. Emma Jane (Kirsch) Miller, a mother of three children.<ref name=NWDA/>

He moved to Seattle in the 1970s and lived there until his death from [[Alzheimer's disease]] on October 13, 1987.<ref name=prize/><ref name=obit>{{cite news |author=Susan Heller Anderson |title=Walter Brattain, Inventor, Is Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/14/obituaries/walter-brattain-inventor-is-dead.html |quote=Walter H. Brattain, who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in physics for the invention of the transistor, died yesterday of Alzheimer's Disease in a nursing home in Seattle. He was 85 years old. ... |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=October 14, 1987 |access-date=December 8, 2014 }}</ref>  He is buried at City Cemetery in [[Pomeroy, Washington]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Brattain Obituary - Tigard, OR |url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/tigard-or/william-brattain-8932502 |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=Dignity Memorial |language=en-us |quote=Son of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Walter H. Brattain [...] to inter his ashes beside his father in Pomeroy City Cemetery, Pomeroy, Washington.}}</ref>