The ballroom at the Holliday Inn was packed with Rotarians. At least it looked packed with thirty Rotarians, three to a table! We practiced all of the recommended COVID procedures. First; masks at all times except when seated at your table. Social distancing when at registration, picking up your pre-ordered boxed lunch, and moving about the room. There was hand sanitizer at registration and at every table. No singing of the National Anthem yet. Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance will have to do for now. Nevertheless the excitement of being back together was present as President Dean Casperson rang the bell.
Jeff Iisakka provided the Rotary Reflection to set the tone for the rest of our gathering and for our speaker.
He pondered how it is that the Milky Way has billions stars. That there are billions of galaxies beyond. And that our universe may be part of a multi-universe! But even in all that vastness, the good work of Rotarians is awe inspiring! Let us continue that work.
Perhaps Rotarians were shy, or they did not want to speak through their masks at the podium. In any event the fellowship report was short but had two items of interest. Brian Fulda, nephew and three time guest of Dave Fulda was again among us. Rumor has it that soon an uncle may be sponsoring a nephew for membership. Allen Anway did rise to the podium to describe the members of his family tree and their propensity to become physicists. His granddaughter, Eleanor Weston is now the fourth generation physicist.
Next, Past Assistant Governor Phil Strom was before the group bringing Allen Anway back to the podium to be recognized for his gift to the Rotary International Foundation in honor of his granddaughter. In addition to Eleanor Weston becoming a new Paul Harris Fellow, Allen Anway received a Paul Harris Pin with two rubies and explained his continued financial support: “The Foundation is the most powerful aspect of Rotary. 100% of the money donated goes for charitable purposes. The commitment to polio eradication is inspirational.”
Phil Strom and Allen Anway
On a more somber note, Greg Hansen gave the eulogy for Chuck House. Chuck was a gift to many, especially having been born on Christmas Day, 1939. He was a mentor to many and was always ready to give of his time, talent, and treasurer. He knew the history of Rotary, and especially that of Rotary Club #25. Attendance for all of his 40+ years in Rotary was important to him. However he would say that just attending does not make you a Rotarian.
Chair of the Day, Dean Casperson introduced our very own astrophysicist, Marc Seigar who is the Head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UMD. This was a vocational talk on one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. Dark matter, what is it? The first clue that something dark was out there was observed 90 years ago when it was discovered that galaxies rotated faster than the visible mass (stars) would allow. If there was not something more than what was visible in the galaxy the stars would fly apart. It was called dark matter with theories developed later to explain what it was. It the 1970’s, some of this dark matter was thought to be hot (moving at 90+% the speed of light). Some of it cold (moving at <10% the speed of light). The current favorite candidate for what dark matter is (although never measured or detected) is what is called a WIMP (Weakly Interactive Massive Particle). With the creation of the Standard Model of Particle Physics and with confirmation in the year 2000 that he universe is expanding, we are closer to an answer. But we are not there yet. The most recent theory says a galaxy is composed of 68% Dark Energy (we did not talk about this), 27% Dark Matter (not yet detected) and 5% Visible Matter (a.k.a. stars and stuff). All of it awe inspiring.
Marc Seigar and
Dean Casperson
Volume 106 #3
Published Monday, July 20, 2020
Rotary Club of Duluth
207 West Superior Street, Suite 201
Duluth, Minnesota 55802