John Osborne Varian

John Osborne Varian (1863 – January 9, 1931) was an Irish-American poet and amateur musician who was one of the early members of the Temple of the People and a leader within the theosophist utopian community of Halcyon, California. Two of his sons, Russell and Sigurd Varian, became notable inventors and went on to found Varian Associates, one of the first companies in Silicon Valley. Varian died on January 9, 1931 following pneumonia.

Born in Ireland, John Varian and his wife, Agnes became members of the Theosophical Society in Dublin where the movement attracted literary figures such as W. B. Yeats, James Cousins, and others. The Varians emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1894, first settling in Syracuse, New York. There, the Varians became involved with a theosophical group headed by William Dower. When Dower moved to Halcyon, California, they joined him in 1914, shortly after its founding. Halcyon was a utopian community that included a sanatorium for the treatment of liquor, morphine, and opium addiction. The community had elements of socialism and some communal property. There, John Varian became a leader of the Temple of the People, simultaneously working with Dower as a chiropractor and masseur, while Agnes was the first Halcyon storekeeper and postmistress.

John and Agnes had three sons, Russell, Sigurd and Eric, all of whom had a keen interest in electricity. Russell was named in honor of the poet "Æ", George Russell, whom John had befriended in Ireland. The family was noted for affection, laughter and a spirit of adventure. All three boys exhibited an early fascination with electricity, which included pranks such as attaching electrical current to bed springs and door knobs in order to give visitors minor electric shocks. Russell and Sigurd became the co-founders of Varian Associates, an early Silicon Valley firm noted for production of the klystron tube, while Eric remained in the Halcyon area and had a career in the central California coast as an electrical contractor, and assisted the work of his daughter, Sheila Varian, who became a noted horse breeder.

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