From horse ranching to radar, this SLO County family has had a huge impact
As personal histories go, the Varian family has a story arc that would rival any concocted by a Hollywood screenwriter.
Over three generations, the Varians have included artists, star athletes, renowned ranchers and an inventor who helps defeat Nazis to renowned ranchers.
Their story is featured in “The Varian Brothers,” a new exhibit opening at the History Center of San Luis Obispo County.
John Osborne Varian and wife Agnes moved to the United States in 1894 and settled in Halcyon in 1914.
They were musicians and members of the Theosophist Temple of the People.
The Varians had three sons: Russell, Sigurd and Eric.
The latter got a mention in a Cal Poly football preview story in the Aug. 28, 1925, edition of The Tribune: “Much is expected of Eric Varian, fighting Irishman from Halcyon this year.”
Eric Varian’s daughter Shelia Varian founded the famed Varian Arabians horse farm in Arroyo Grande.
According to her March 10, 2016, obituary, “Varian raised Arabian horses for 60 years and owned a 200-acre ranch in Corbett Canyon between San Luis Obispo and Arroyo Grande. “
“Varian, a native of Santa Maria and a Cal Poly graduate, is world-renowned for her Arabians and was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2003,” the obituary read, adding that “70% of winning Arabian show horses today carry Varian blood. One of her most famous horses was Bay-El-Bey, a six-time U.S. national Top 10 stallion.”
Eric Varian’s brothers, it could be argued, helped save the world.
According to the History Center, Sigurd “Sig” Varian was inspired to fly at age 9 by barnstorming pioneer pilot Louis Paulhan.
Varian bought a World War I surplus plane and supported himself by giving flying lessons and barnstorming. After the 1925 earthquake that demolished Santa Barbara, he took a Fresno Bee photographer on a fight to document the destruction.
In 1929, Varian joined a subsidiary of Pan American Airlines, flying in Mexico and Central America.
After a crash landing, he was committed to the idea of improving information for pilots. Fortunately, his brother Russell was in a position to do something about it.
Russ Varian earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from Stanford University.
The Varians made a deal with Stanford that if the university provided lab space and $100 a year in supplies they would give half the royalties to Stanford.
With the help of physics professor Dr. Bill Hansen, they invented the klystron, a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube that advanced early radio and microwave technology.
As Tom Friedman wrote in the Tribune in 2004, the klystron had vital applications in warfare, such as tracking enemy aircraft.
Radar helped the Allies gain air superiority over the skies in World War II.
“The Varians’ klystron remained important as a key component for lower power microwave applications, especially in radar receivers, generating the low-level energy needed to beat against the received reflected radar signal, and converting that signal to a more efficient frequency for amplification (the superheterodyne principle),” Friedman wrote in his letter.
“After the war, the klystron became extremely useful in television broadcasting at ultrahigh frequencies, as this tube was improved to generate very high power,” Friedman wrote. “It was also used in the ballistic missile early warning system.”
A documentary on the Varians’ role in Silicon Valley, narrated by Walter Cronkite, traces the brothers’ next step.
In 1948, Russ and Sig Varian founded Varian Associates in San Carlos, just north of Palo Alto.
Six years later, it was the first company to move into the Stanford Research Park. Hewlett Packard arrived shortly after that and what is now Silicon Valley began to form.
Russell Varian was a long time member of the Sierra Club and counted famed photographer Ansel Adams as a friend. He worked to preserve the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz mountains.
Varian died of a heart attack in 1959 while exploring Alaska in search of land for new national parks.
Sigurd Varian died in 1961 piloting a private plane in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, at night. He left a quarter of his estate to fund a hospital there.
His son, Jack Varian, decided that his future was in ranching — not electronics. He developed the Varian Ranch residential community in Arroyo Grande and preserved a large portion of a 17,000-acre-ranch in Parkfield with a conservation easement.
He and his wife, Zera “Zee” Varian, were honored as Conservationists of the Year in 2016 by the California Rangeland Trust for their sustainable uses of rangeland.
Jack Varian and his son John run the V6 Ranch in Parkfield, making the most of the rural peace and quiet in the community known as the “Earthquake Capitol of the World.”
