Invention of the Point Contact Transistor, 1954

Introduction: Drs. John Bardeen and Walter Brattain

First as friends and later as lab partners, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain were the perfect complements to one another. They met in Princeton, New Jersey, and worked together to improve the field of communications.

Who were John Bardeen and Walter Brattain? What was the Point Contact Transistor, and who should be credited with its invention?

These pages hold the answers to these questions and tell the story of the transistor and how its development revolutionized the field of Communications.

Photographs (2) of certificates accompanying the Stuart Ballantine Medal, scanned together; 10/15/1952 (604 k)