Creating A World Without Fear Of Cancer

For Varian, the mission is everything

At some point in our lives, the great majority of us will endure a health scare. In those first private moments our thoughts stray into the darkest directions, and we may find ourselves pondering a question we don’t dare ask aloud: “Do I have cancer?”

According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 1,762,450 new cancer cases diagnosed in the US this year.

Can the fear of cancer be eliminated? That’s the mission of one of the most innovative medical device manufacturers in existence, Varian. Since its inception in 1937, Varian has driven a host of inroads in technology for use in defense, industrial, and medical applications, and is today the standard bearer for the development of solutions for treating cancer.

In the 1930s, Russell Varian, an electronics technician who worked for television pioneer Philo Farnsworth, and his brother Sigurd, an aviator and engineer, collaborated to create a high-frequency amplifier for generating microwave signals that would make air navigation better and serve as a warning signal for Nazi bombing raids. Their invention, the klystron tube, was used to create radar systems that were light enough to fit into airplanes, proving a vital asset for Allied forces.

According to Varian, “Today, klystrons can be found at work in radar, satellite, and wideband high-power communication, in highenergy physics applications such as particle accelerators and experimental reactors, and as an essential component of the modern medical linear accelerator, a machine that helps clinicians target and destroy tumors using high-energy X-ray beams.”

Together, the brothers established one of the very first start-up companies in the nation. Setting up shop in postwar Palo Alto, they became known as one of the founders of Silicon Valley.