Alan was a rare being indeed. He was always preceded by fables of an awe-inspiring intellect, so the first introduction was inevitably — well — daunting. He'd even acquired this aura back in the mid '70's when he and I (to my trepidation) first met. Even so his company was always welcome for his insights into subtle physics —optics in particular — and his perception that all this could be one day an essential contributor to our evolving society.
And his technical achievements were significant indeed —he was arguably the first to appreciate — in the late 70's or early 80's that optical fibres could be used to map physical parameters like temperature and strain as a they varied with position along the entire fibre length - extending to many 10's of kilometres - now called distributed sensing and proving to be a very important concept.
In the process of defining all this he became much admired for his command of polarisation effects and this wonderful visualisation tool known as the Poincare sphere. Often mentioned by all who knew him, Alan's command of this was legendary. (A simple three dimensional representation of 2-by-2 matrix multiplication with complex numbers, as he often said... and all we could do is nod in awe...)
He was also, arguably, the first to appreciate that fibre optics could be used to measure electric currents and voltages (more polarisation and the Poincare Sphere) - with enormous benefits over the alternatives — and again this has matured into an important business...
Over the years — learning much more about Alan, and his undeniable skills as a sportsman, I've occasionally wondered if really he'd yearned for the soccer career more than he'd ever acknowledge and maybe the passionate cultivation of Poincare's sphere was just a little hint of all this? He did in fact have a soccer ball (one of the white plastic ones) which he used as a model to illustrate the ideas — and it worked...
He made a huge impact — here a just a few tributes which arrived in the weeks immediately after his passing...
Comments like:
"He was a kind and thoughtful gentleman professor:... he brought an air of professionalism and deep knowledge, but also empathy and humanity to every occasion I had to interact with him."
Alan was particularly touched and delighted on receiving more than well-earned recognition - the EWOFS Lifetime Achievement Award -in Santander Spain. Jose Miguel Lopez Higuera recalls presenting this to Alan (in Jose's very personalised style...) :
"....Alan, was a good man, humble, very friend of his friends, doted with the special intelligence proper of the great and good human being."
This award remained in pride of place in the hallway of his house thereafter...
Anna Mignani, CNR-IFAC Florence Italy, summed it up:
"..our value in this life is the knowledge we are able to leave to next generations, I guess Alan will be alive forever in our community, since the seeds he inoculated gave and will give even more in the future excellent fruits.."
You'll have gathered from these tributes that there was more to Alan than simply the excellent scientist and very effective engineer. After a while — and it took some time — we all gained immense respect for his considerable personal warmth, his modesty in his undeniable abilities, a sharp sense of humour and a deeply felt humanity.
Alan was a joy to know, a man who enjoyed his life, who delighted in his family, whose love for his wife Wendy was, I know, a great support and comfort. It wasn't too long into any conversation before there was reference to `good old Wendy'.
It was really a great privilege to have known Alan. He has left behind some wonderful memories within his family for sure; and also within this community where he inspired many and contributed so much; and where he will be remembered with respect and admiration for his technical contributions, his humour, his humanity and his modesty.
Alan, we salute your life and all you contributed. We thank you. Your memory will for sure live on amongst us; in your enduring technical contributions, in your former students many of whom are in this audience and in our own individual stories of your remarkable presence.