Post by Linax Technologies Ltd

Born to poor Irish immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, both Russel and Sigurd Varian faced incredible health challenges all their life. Russel was dyslectic at a time when learning disabilities were not well understood or tolerated. Despite this, he obtained a Master’s degree in Physics from Stanford University through his own incredible determination. Sigurd decided that aviation was an industry with a future, and so he became a pilot in the 1920s and flew commercially for Pan American Airlines. He was a chronic sufferer of tuberculosis, which often kept him bedridden for months at a time. Sigurd was a talented and self-taught engineer, and quickly realized that navigation was key to making aviation safer. With his older brother Russel, the two brothers invented the klystron, and eventually went on to found Varian Associates, the second company in what is today Silicon Valley. Their story is beautifully told in the 1983 book “The Inventor and the Pilot” written by Dorothy Varian, the wife of Russel Varian. It is well worth reading for anyone interested in the rich history of linear accelerators and radiotherapy. # #accelerators #startups