Brattain was born in China, and he grew up on his parents' cattle ranch in Washington state. In 1924 he graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, with a degree in physics and mathematics. He later received his Masters from the University of Oregon and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. After working for the United States National Bureau of Standards while in graduate school, Brattain joined Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1929. At Bell Labs he began studying semiconducting substances such as germanium and silicon, which had been used for years to rectify electrical currents , forcing them to flow in only one direction. In 1936 William Shockley (1910-1989) was hired by Bell Labs and joined Brattain in his semiconductor research. Their efforts, however, were interrupted by World War II, during which time Brattain conducted research on the magnetic detection of submarines.

Soon after the war was over, another...