Alan White had no formal training in art, but had a life-long interest in and appreciation of sculpture, dating back to his childhood when he carved small figures in wood using his pocketknife. His mother was a professional artist and he credited her with his interest in art. For 30 years, White worked as a member of the technical staff for Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ. His work there contributed to the invention of the first continuous visible red laser, which eventually became the ubiquitous bar-code scanner