Varian Associates
Encyclopedia
Varian Associates was one of the first high-tech companies in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

. It was founded in 1948 by Russell H. and Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton
Edward Ginzton
Edward Leonard Ginzton was a Ukrainian-American physicist.-Education:Ginzton completed his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and his Ph.D...

 to sell the klystron
Klystron
A klystron is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube . Klystrons are used as amplifiers at microwave and radio frequencies to produce both low-power reference signals for superheterodyne radar receivers and to produce high-power carrier waves for communications and the driving force for modern...

, the first tube which could generate electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies, and other electromagnetic equipment. Varian Associates split into three companies in 1999.

Incorporation and leadership

On April 20, 1948, the Articles of Incorporation were filed, signed by nine directors: Edward Ginzton
Edward Ginzton
Edward Leonard Ginzton was a Ukrainian-American physicist.-Education:Ginzton completed his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and his Ph.D...

, , who had worked with the Varian brothers since his days as a doctoral student; William Webster Hansen, Richard M. Leonard
Richard M. Leonard
Richard Manning Leonard was an American rock climber, environmentalist and attorney. He served as president of the Sierra Club and the Save the Redwoods League, and was active in the Wilderness Society and the American Alpine Club...

, an attorney; Leonard I. Schiff
Leonard I. Schiff
Leonard Isaac Schiff was born in Fall River, Massachusetts on March 29, 1915 and died on Jan 21, 1971.He was a physicist best known for his book Quantum Mechanics.-Education:...

, then head of the physics department at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

; H. Myrl Stearns, Russell H. Varian
Russell and Sigurd Varian
Russell Harrison Varian and Sigurd Fergus Varian were brothers who founded one of the earliest high-tech companies in Silicon Valley...

, his wife, Dorothy Varian, Sigurd F. Varian
Russell and Sigurd Varian
Russell Harrison Varian and Sigurd Fergus Varian were brothers who founded one of the earliest high-tech companies in Silicon Valley...

 and Paul B. Hunter. The company began with six full-time employees: the Varian brothers, Dorothy, Myrl Stearns, Fred Salisbury, and Don Snow. Technical and business assistance came from several members of the faculty at Stanford University, including Edward Ginzton, Marvin Chodorow, William Hansen, and Leonard Schiff. The company's legal counsel was Dick Leonard, a San Francisco attorney, and Paul Hunter, a patent attorney, handled matters related to patents and intellectual property rights. Francis Farquhar, an accountant and friend of Russell's from the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...

, later became a director, as did Frederick Terman
Frederick Terman
Frederick Emmons Terman was an American academic. He is widely credited with being the father of Silicon Valley.-Education:...

, Dean of Engineering at Stanford, and David Packard
David Packard
David Packard was a co-founder of Hewlett-Packard , serving as president , CEO , and Chairman of the Board . He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1969–1971 during the Nixon administration...

, of Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

. Russell served as the company President and a board member until his death; Sigurd served as Vice-President for Engineering, and served on the Board of Directors until his death, sometimes serving as Chairman of the Board. Following the deaths of both Varian brothers, Ginzton became the CEO of the company.

Under Thomas D. Sege, the company's chief executive officer (CEO) from 1981 to 1990, sales grew to exceed $1 billion per annum. In 1990 J. Tracy O'Rourke replaced Sege as CEO and was also made chairman of the board.

Early projects and goals

They initially created the company to commercialize the klystron and develop other technologies, such as small linear accelerators to generate photon
Photon
In physics, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force...

s for external beam radiation therapy
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...

. They also were very interested in nuclear magnetic resonance
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Nuclear magnetic resonance is a physical phenomenon in which magnetic nuclei in a magnetic field absorb and re-emit electromagnetic radiation...

 technology.

One of Varian Associates' major contracts in the 1950s was to create a fuse for the atomic bomb. The Varian brothers had initially been supportive of military applications for the klystron and other technologies, on the grounds that they were primarily defensive weapons. This contract, however, was different. Although politically progressive to the point of having socialist leanings, the Varians were patriotic at heart and had no sympathy for the Marxist model of socialism practiced by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. They also needed military contracts to survive and relished the technical challenges of this sort of work, but as early as 1958 Russell and Sigurd expressed regret for their involvement in the development of weapons of mass destruction.

Most of the founders of Varian Associates, had progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

 political leanings, and the company "pioneered profit-sharing, stock-ownership, insurance, and retirement plans for employees long before these benefits became mandatory". Nearly 50 years later, in 1997, the company was still recognized by Industry Week as one of the best-managed companies in America. Among their early employees was bookkeeper Clara Jobs, mother of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...

.

Location

The company was initially headquartered in San Carlos, California
San Carlos, California
San Carlos is a city in San Mateo County, California, USA on the San Francisco Peninsula, about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. It is an affluent small residential suburb located between Belmont to the north and Redwood City to the south. San Carlos' ZIP code is 94070, and it is within...

, and started with only $22,000 in funding. It had problems raising additional capital, particularly due to Russell's insistence that the company be owned by its employees and his related refusal to accept outside investors. Hansen mortgaged his home for $17,000 to raise additional cash, and the group sought out additional funds from their friends. Ultimately, however, the company raised $120,000 of necessary capital via an offer of stock to all employees, directors, consultants, and a few sympathetic local investors who shared the company's goals. Military contracts for technology deemed necessary during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, including some classified projects, also helped the firm succeed. In 1953, Varian Associates moved its headquarters to Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

, at Stanford Industrial Park – noted as the "spawning ground of Silicon Valley" – and was the first firm to occupy a site there.

On April 2, 1999, the company spun off its Gloucester, Massachusetts ion-implantation equipment business into Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates
Varian Semiconductor
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. is a supplier of ion implantation equipment used in the fabrication of semiconductor chips. Varian Semiconductor was founded in 1971 as Extrion Corporation in Peabody, Massachusetts. Extrion later moved to nearby Gloucester and was bought by Varian...

 and its Palo Alto based scientific instrument business into Varian, Inc.
Varian, Inc.
Varian, Inc. was one of the largest manufacturers of scientific instruments for the scientific industry; they had offerings over the whole range of chemical analysis equipment, with a particular focus on Information Rich Detection and Vacuum technology...

 The medical equipment business, which included the manufacture of x-ray tubes in Salt Lake City, Utah, renamed itself Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems
Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, California, is a manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer...

, Inc. and remained headquartered in Palo Alto. After the breakup O'Rourke served as Varian Semiconductor's chairman. Varian, Inc.
Varian, Inc.
Varian, Inc. was one of the largest manufacturers of scientific instruments for the scientific industry; they had offerings over the whole range of chemical analysis equipment, with a particular focus on Information Rich Detection and Vacuum technology...

, was later acquired by Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies , or Agilent, is a company that designs and manufactures electronic and bio-analytical measurement instruments and equipment for measurement and evaluation...

 in May, 2010.

Legacy

In 1998, the Congressional Record
Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...

 noted the 50th anniversary of the founding of Varian Associates, which then employed 7,000 people at 100 plants in nine countries. It had branched out into health care systems, analytical equipment and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. California Representative Anna Eshoo
Anna Eshoo
Anna Georges Eshoo is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, which includes part of Silicon Valley, includes the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto...

 stated that the company had been awarded over 10,000 patents and was a "jewel in the crown of...Silicon Valley."

See also

  • Russell and Sigurd Varian
    Russell and Sigurd Varian
    Russell Harrison Varian and Sigurd Fergus Varian were brothers who founded one of the earliest high-tech companies in Silicon Valley...

  • Continental Electronics
    Continental Electronics
    Continental Electronics is a major American manufacturer of broadcast and military radio transmitters, based in Dallas, Texas. Although Continental today is best known for its FM, shortwave, and military VLF transmitters, Continental is most significant historically for its line of mediumwave ...

    , a subsidiary from 1985 to 1990
  • Communications & Power Industries
    CPI International
    CPI International, Inc. is the holding company for Communications & Power Industries, the largest manufacturer and rebuilder of electron devices in the United States. C&PI was founded in 1995 when Varian Associates sold its electron-device business to concentrate on medical systems...

    , a 1995 spin-off, which includes the Varian brothers' original klystron business
  • Intevac
    Intevac
    Intevac, Inc. is headquartered in Santa Clara, California in the Silicon Valley. The company has U.S. offices in Carlsbad, California and Laramie, Wyoming and in Asia, with offices in China, Japan, Korea and Malaysia and Singapore....

    , a 1991 spin off
  • Varian Data Machines
    Varian Data Machines
    Varian Data Machines was a division of Varian Associates which sold minicomputers. It entered the market in 1966, but met stiff competition and was bought by Sperry Corporation in 1977....

    , a former division of Varian Associates that sold minicomputer
    Minicomputer
    A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...

    s

Sources

  • Hicks, Michael (2002). Henry Cowell, Bohemian. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02751-5


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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