President John Olson rang the Rotary bell at 12 noon, calling to order meeting #5379 of the Rotary Club of Everett; virtual meeting #26.

 

He then led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Dr. Paul Stoot brought us the Thought of the Day with a prayer of thanks and gratitude

 

There were no visiting Rotarians today.

 

Sean Kelly introduced his guest, Mark McGinty, retired military.

 

Sheldon Johnson gave his classification talk. Sheldon grew up in California. His father worked for McDonnell-Douglas. He attended Cal State University and is in the hotel industry. Sheldon is married with 2 children. His family currently lives in Minnesota. They are building a home in Marysville. Sheldon loves to travel, especially Italy and Europe. He also enjoys coaching youth baseball and basketball. Sheldon joined Rotary to help the community.

 

Betsy Baker-Bold was $20 happy to have received her COVID vaccination.

 

Marybeth Dingledy was $20 happy to have skied at Stevens Pass last week after a knee injury 2 years ago.

 

Mike Holcomb was $100 happy for his wife who is doing better every day after going to the emergency room 1 year ago.

 

Tina Gilson matched Mike’s $100

 

George Bowden had 100 happy/sad dollars. He and his wife purchased 40 acres near Conway and they sold their current home in 3 days.

 

Ed Petersen was happy to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of Hopeworks.

 

 

Sean Kelly introduced today’s speaker, Dr Michael Landry of the LIGO Observatory/Cal Tech.

 

Dr Landry discussed the discovery of gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are a disturbance in space that can actually stretch and contract space. Gravity propagates on the universe instantly.

 

Both light and gravity travel at a finite speed.

 

Colliding stars and black holes create gravitational waves. Bursting supernovas and neutron stars create gravitational waves as well.

 

The Michelson Interferometer measures gravitational waves by splitting light beams and reading their reflection. It is a simple concept, but requires massive engineering work. The mirrors used have to be very still.

 

2 discoveries that launched gravitational wave astrophysics were:

 

September 14, 2015 – Binary Black Hole Coalescence.

 

August 17, 2017 – Binary Neutron Star Coalescence.

 

Dr Landry then entertained questions from the club membership.

 

Sean Kelly thanked Dr Landry for his interesting presentation

 

CONCLUSION

President John also thanked Dr Landry and stated that a donation in his name was being made to the Everett Boys and Girls Club.

 

Next week’s presentation will be Congressman Rick Larsen.

 

President John then adjourned the meeting.  

 

 

Respectfully, Submitted,

 

Photography Submitted,