Allan Carlson graduated from Moorhead High School in 1957. He graduated summa cum laude from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, in 1961. He completed his master’s and doctorate degrees at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Carlson has worked on measurements of neutron cross sections for over 35 years. While at the University of Wisconsin he used a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator for measurements of total neutron cross sections in order to study fluctuations in neutron cross sections.

From 1966-67, Carlson was a staff associate at General Atomic Division, General Dynamics. He then was a staff member at Gulf General Atomic from 1967-70 and a staff scientist at Gulf Energy and Environmental Systems from 1970-72. Since 1972, Carlson has been a physicist for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) where he became coordinator of the Van de Graaff and linac neutron cross section standards activities. He also was chairman of an International Atomic Energy Agency Coordinated Research Project working on a new international evaluation of the standards. He retired in April 2001 and is now a NIST contractor.

Carlson has authored and co-authored more than 100 publications in a wide range of journals. He has been involved with numerous committees, both nationally and internationally, including serving as chairman of the Standards Subcommittee for U.S. Cross Section Evaluation Working Group from 1980-95 and serving on program committees for several international conferences. Carlson also remains active with Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Allan is married to Gayle Carlson. They have four children, David Carlson, Sandra Alexis, Karyn Nicholson and Connie Chopin, and 11 grandchildren. He lives in Frederick, Maryland.