Skip to content
Arne Noori
Aboutarne.ai
← All artifacts
Varian Associates

Varian Associates

Image creditDaderot (photographed at the National Museum of American History)
CC0 ↗

Varian Associates

Year
1948
Creator
Russell Varian, Sigurd Varian and Stanford colleagues
Company
Varian Associates
Location
San Carlos, California; Stanford Industrial Park, Palo Alto, from 1953

Description

Russell and Sigurd Varian and a group of Stanford colleagues started Varian Associates in San Carlos in 1948 to make microwave tubes. This 425-megahertz Varian klystron from 1959 powered a radar station at Thule, Greenland.

Importance

Varian became the largest maker of klystrons in the world, and military radar used its tubes. In October 1951 it signed the first lease in the Stanford Industrial Park, and Frederick Terman was on its board. Varian grew quickly on government contracts, and in 1953 it moved into the first building in the park.

Interesting fact

Varian paid $41,000 in advance for a 99-year lease on 10 acres, but one year later Kodak paid $120,000 for a lease of equal size.

Sources

  1. Perham Collection Creator Profile: Russell and Sigurd Varian ↗History San José
  2. Stanford Industrial Park (addendum paper for the International Forum of University Science Parks) ↗Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing (Jon Sandelin) · 2004
  3. Success Story: Varian ↗Stanford Research Park