FOREWORD
By Michael D. McNiven
Not every day do you run into a praying physicist, but when you do, you have found a peculiar treasure indeed. David W. Allan is such a treasure, and in some circles he is still a hidden one at that. But make no mistake, he is arguably the most eminent scientist in the field of atomic timekeeping and frequency metrology and is certainly one of the most eminent Latter-day Saint scientists of our day. He is an expert in synchronizing and syntonizing the constant change found in the physical world.
Many people may not yet know his name, but everyone is a beneficiary of his scientific work and his innovations in precision and variance measurement. For example, he was the chief timekeeper of the United States for twenty-seven years over a thirty-two year career while at the National Bureau of Standards and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NBS/NIST) in Boulder, Colorado. His contributions to the field of metrology (the scientific study of measurement standards including atomic clocks) are legendary. When you look at a clock or see the precision of timing used on modern electronic devices, David Allan’s influence is there. His algorithms are used in GPS technology and the international time standard as well as many other fields of study across the spectrum of scientific disciplines.
David Allan’s reputation as a creative thinker started early in his career. His master’s thesis on flicker noise and variance is one of the most used algorithms with wide-ranging applications across the world. It is named the Allan Variance (AVAR) in his honor. The Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) adopted AVAR as well as MVAR (the modified Allan Variance) and TVAR (the Time Variance used in telecommunications) as international standards in 1988. For these contributions, David Allan was awarded several prestigious lifetime achievement awards.
David Allan is credited with seven major scientific discoveries that have impacted in important ways the world community. These include the aforementioned AVAR, MVAR, and TVAR algorithms. He helped create the AT-1algorithm (which optimally combines the readings of an ensemble of atomic clocks to generate official time) and the DMTD (dual mixer time difference to measure the time difference between two clocks with arbitrary precision). He also developed what is known as the GPS common-view where two remote earthbound stations can track a GPS satellite simultaneously giving near accuracy of the time difference between the two stations. It is used by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for synchronizing their deep space network and for generating international time with nanosecond accuracy. After retirement from NBS/NIST, David Allan worked as a consultant for Hewlett Packard where he created a specialized GPS receiver for synchronizing cellphone towers around the world.
This book is his eighth book and maybe his most important to date as a signature effort from a scientist of deep religious faith to integrate both his secular and sacred life into one great whole. David Allan is not only a student of the marvelous Creation, but he also a disciple of its Creator. David Allan brings a unique skillset and an inquisitive mind to the study of our Lord and His atoning work. The Lord Jesus is the rightful focus and the Infinite Atonement is the tool to discover more fully the Lord’s plan for redemption of this marvelous physical world and its inhabitants. This physical universe of precision and synchronicity amid its variances and complexities testifies to a glorious Creator as an artful intelligence with magnificent Omniscience (omni-science rather than merely science).
Bother Allan served as a young missionary in the Eastern States Mission in the late 1950’s. He and his dear Edna Love Ramsay have served in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints actively throughout their adult lives. They are a package deal and a dynamic duo. Edna has been a fully contributing member of their successful team and partnership. David served as a bishop for six years and then as a stake president for over a decade in Boulder, Colorado. He served for three years in the Denver Mission Presidency. After retirement, he taught Institute of Religion classes in the Moroni Utah Stake for eleven years. He and Edna served a full-time mission to the West Africa Cote d’ Ivoire French speaking mission as senior missionaries. They continue to jointly serve their children and grandchildren and their greater community of friends and neighbors with faith, hope, and love.
I encourage you to take the time to seriously consider the words of this great scientist and ardent disciple of Christ as found in this book and in his many other books. Brother Allan is not afraid to venture into topics that are new or considered non-traditional or even speculative. That is because he is a seeker of truth wherever it appears. Truth is sometimes found on the edges. As the Lord has told us, you often have to seek in order to properly find. This is one of Brother Allan’s most compelling traits as demonstrated in these pages. He is still like a child seeking learning by study and by faith as he enters his 90th year on this most interesting planet at this most crucial time.
In the coming chapters, readers will gain some insight into the scientific discoveries and thinking of this most devoted scientist. The author has also read widely and finds truths in sometimes surprising places that are compelling to him. He cites other writers generously and relies on their work for new ideas and even wonder. More importantly, in this book he offers his own religious contributions explaining “the atoning sacrifice” and “the atoning bridge” as his understanding of the seven steps of the Infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ.
In this book, Brother Allan stitches together the many scientific and sacred threads of his learning into one more comprehensive topic related to our Lord’s Atonement. Although readers should feel free to disagree with him on any particular point, what we ought not do is doubt his diligence, capacity, precision, tenacity, or critical thinking as a lifelong seeker of both sacred and secular truth. His scientific credentials and discoveries coupled with his religious diligence and service over a lifetime do not allow us that luxury. He is a serious man having made serious contributions to the world that we live in and to the faith that he professes.
David Allan will be the first to say that any brilliance or achievements he has attained in his life are not his but were a gift from God. He is not just saying this to feign humility. Although he is a kindly and soft-spoken man, he is also serious about this essential truth. He of himself is nothing without the Lord’s help. Brother Allan explains in the last chapter of this book the situation leading to his first major discovery that launched his storied career. It was a critical fork in the road requiring him to sacrifice his personal ambitions in lieu of service to the Lord and others, and the Lord magnified him from there.
I believe David W. Allan is a treasure among us as a praying physicist. But this book demonstrates in emphasis and stories what he truly treasures most. He believes in and trusts the Lord Jesus Christ and seeks to understand the Lord’s Infinite Atonement. As is implied in the title of the book, the goal for these pages is to point the readers toward the Lord and to come unto Him with greater seriousness, focus, and even worship. And glory be to God and His matchless Son who wrought the Infinite Atonement, bringing order, oneness, holiness, and wholeness to the universe with a promise of infinite JOY!