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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 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. == Childhood == 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. John and Agnes had three sons, Russell, Sigurd and Eric. The family was not wealthy, but noted in the community for being loving, humorous and adventurous. All three boys exhibited an early fascination with electricity, which included pranks such as attaching electrical outlets to bed springs and door knobs to give visitors minor electric shocks. Russell was named in honor of the poet "Æ", George Russell, whom John had befriended in Ireland. Russell was dyslexic, and in his childhood he was considered by many to be "slow", although later events would demonstrate that he was highly intelligent; Sigurd was the more outgoing of the older two siblings. Composer Henry Cowell befriended Russell in 1911, when both were in their teens. A piano sonata that Cowell composed for Russell brought Cowell to the attention of John Varian, who, in 1917, asked Cowell to write the prelude for a stage production of John's Irish mythical poetry cycle, ''The Building of Banba''. This piece, titled ''The Tides of Manaunaun'', became Cowell's most famous and widely performed work. Cowell was also a music tutor of Ansel Adams, and the Varian family in turn became friends with Adams, who became friends with Russell and Sigurd through their mutual activity in the Sierra Club. Adams knew the family for more than 30 years, and was a hiking companion of Russell's; the pair made many trips into the Sierras. Adams later used a line from one of John Varian's poems, "...What Majestic Word", as the title of his 1963 ''Portfolio Four'', which he dedicated to Russell's memory. The portfolio, of which only 200 copies were printed, was narrated with the words of John and Russell Varian, and sold in a fundraiser for the Sierra Club. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Russell and Sigurd Varian」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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