Russell H. Varian

Russell Harrison Varian (April 24, 1898 – July 28, 1959) and Sigurd Fergus Varian (May 4, 1901 – October 18, 1961) were brothers who founded one of the earliest high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. Born to theosophist parents who helped lead the utopian community of Halcyon, California, they grew up in a home with multiple creative influences. The brothers showed an early interest in electricity, and after independently establishing careers in electronics and aviation they came together to invent the klystron, which became a critical component of radar, telecommunications and other microwave technologies. In 1948 they founded Varian Associates to market the klystron and other inventions; the company became the first to move into Stanford Industrial Park, the birthplace of Silicon Valley. Both brothers were noted for their progressive political views; Russell was a lifelong supporter of the Sierra Club, Sigurd helped found the housing cooperative of Ladera, California, and Varian Associates instituted innovative employee policies that were ahead of their time. In 1950, the Varians were awarded the John Price Wetherill Medal for the development of the klystron, and both were posthumously inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame in 1993.

The Varian brothers' parents, John and Agnes Varian, were born and raised in Ireland, and were members of the Theosophical Society in Dublin. They emigrated to the United States in 1894, and settled in Syracuse, New York, where they became involved with a theosophical group headed by William Dower. After Dower moved to Halcyon, California, they joined him in 1914, shortly after Halcyon's founding. It was a utopian community that included a sanatorium for the treatment of liquor, morphine, and opium addiction, with socialist leanings and some communal property. John Varian became a leader of the Temple of the People at Halcyon, worked as a chiropractor and masseur, wrote theosophist poetry and socialist tracts, and pursued an interest in Irish myth and history. Agnes was the first Halcyon storekeeper and postmistress.

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