David W. Allan was born September 25, 1936, in Mapleton, UT, USA. He received the B.S. degree in physics from Brigham Young University and the M.S. degree in physics from the University of Colorado. His master’s thesis is the basis for the Allan variance and was published in the February Proceedings of the IEEE in 1966. During his 32 years in Boulder, CO, USA, he helped develop the United States official time and frequency standards and with colleagues published over 100 papers in that process. He also consulted for the APOLLO, GPS, and JPL deep-space timing programs. He believes that cooperation rather than competition brings about the greatest good and feels greatly blessed to have worked with such outstanding colleagues. He retired from the government in 1992, and has remained active in the time and frequency community as an independent researcher and consultant.