• PO Box 37 • Richland, WA 99352 • Meetings every Tuesday at 12:10 p.m. 451 Hills Street, North Richland• Charter 7390 • District 5080 • Club ID#262

RICHLAND

R TARY REACTOR

Judy Addis (3S)(B)

Steve Arneson (1R)

Jeremy Asmus (2S)

Jim Bauer (4MD)(B)

Linda Bauer (4MD)(B)

Bob Best (2S)(B)

Tom Bock (1R)(B)

Blaine Carr (6S)

Thomas A. Cowan (4S)(B)

Bob De Lorenzo (D)(B)

Jeanne Dillner (2S)

Barbara French (D)

Julie FunfarLinda Gilmore (2S)

Jan Griffin (1S)

Diahann HowardJan Jackson (2S)

Larry D. JechaDarrel Johnsen (3S)

Roy KeckPhillip KoechDave Larkin (D)

Pamela Larsen (4S)(B)

Bob D. Larson (4S)(B)

Phil Lemley (2S)

Tim Lewis (3S)

Eric Livesay (1S)

Larry Lowry (3S)(B)

Jerry J. McGuire (2S)(B)

Kathy Miller (5S)

Greg Oberg (4S) (B)

Thomas M. O’Brien (2S)

Jon M. Putz (6S)

Cindy Reents (1S) Dick Richter (2S)

Robert RiveraGary Scofield (4S)(B)

Anjan K. Sen (1S)

Chris Senske (6R)

Rick SchulteBill R. Siefken (1R)

Mike SinclairMark Smith (6S)(B)

Bob Tibbatts (2S)

Cynthia VaughnSam R. Volpentest (2R)(B)

Tom Watkins (D)(B)

Ken Williams (6S)

Hal Williamson (4MD)(B)

(B) Benefactor(D) Diamond PHF(DD) Dbl. Diamond PHF(R) Ruby(#R) Multiple Ruby(S) Sapphire(MD) Major Donor

PAUL HARRIS FELLOWSOfficers

President ................................. Julie Funfar President Elect............................Jim BauerSecretary..............................Jeanne DillnerTreasurer.................................Dick RichterFoundation Treasurer...........Steve ArnesonPast President.........................Bob Tibbatts

DirectorsMeeting Service...........................Tom O’BrienInternational Service...................Phillip KoechCommunity Service....................Mike SinclairNew Generations...................Tom HunningtonFellowship & Fund Raising........Travis CliftonPublic Relations.........................Jeremy Asmus

Editor: Eric LivesayPublisher: Jan JacksonEditor Emeritus: Hal EllnerWeb Site: www.richlandrotaryclub.orgFacebook: https://m.facebook.com/RichlandRotaryClubWA/

March Speaker Schedule No Meetings Scheduled through March. PreliminaryOur Club President, Julie Funfar, brought the meeting to order. Cynthia Vaughn attempted to choreograph us in singing “Make New Friends (But Keep the Old)”. We did our best… Our recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Julie Funfar. The invocation was delivered by Blaine Carr.

Corona VirusWith consideration of COVID-19, we concluded our preliminaries by greeting folks at other tables in a non-tactile manner. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports on their website <https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html>that the name of this virus, COVID-19, comes from an amalgamation of ‘CO’, for COrona, ‘VI’ for VIrus, ‘D’ for Disease and ‘19’ for 2019. Other Coronaviruses have been seen

in humans before. COVID-19 is a novel (or new) Coronavirus that has never been seen in humans before.

Guests and Visiting RotariansWe did not have any visiting Rotarians today but we did have four guests. Tom O’Brien hosted Analexis Manjeres-Diaz, an intern with Clifton Larson Allen (CLA). Jeremy Asmus hosted Renee Peck of the Kadlec Foundation. Roy Keck hosted his girlfriend, Heillie Den Hoed. Eric Livesay hosted Dr. Patrick McLaughlin, an economist.

Announcements • The District Conference scheduled for May 14-17 in the Tri-Cities has been cancelled due to concerns about COVID-19. • The 2020 District Leadership Training scheduled for April 18, 2020 in Spokane, WA has been cancelled due to concerns about COVID-19 • Chris Meiers announced that the Rotaract installation scheduled for next week is being

March 10, 2020

rescheduled. The Entrepreneurial dinner scheduled for April at WSU is currently still expected to go forward. • Mike Sinclair reported that Rebuilding Mid-Columbia is looking for volunteers to help take down a ramp this weekend in North Pasco. This will take place on Saturday at 9:00 AM. Please contact Mike for more details. • Joan Wright reported that nursing scholarships are now out. Academic scholarships for high school seniors are now being planned. The committee is intending to meet on April 07 from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM at the latest.

50/50Ian Napier ran today’s game which had 18 chips in the basket (including the winner). One of today’s guests, Renee Peck, pulled today’s first ticket, number x393. Roy won, took the $10 and then pulled ticket number x413. Rebecca Thornton pulled a chip but wasn’t lucky today.

Judge Jeanne DillnerJudge Jeanne focused on people’s personal stories today. Ian Napier reflected on his interesting socks and let us know that at one time he was a commercial pilot and a flight instructor. The Judge asked for more information about the socks.

Eric Livesay (today’s newsletter author) reported that, oddly enough, he had on interesting socks and that back in day was also a pilot. Ken Williams reported that he knew where Jeanne Dillner and Dick were recently - at the Kiona winery. Dick enjoyed meeting Ken’s father.

Cynthia let us know that she came from a long line of firefighters in Colorado. Rick Wilson was on The Magnificent Seven TV show for 2 years. Jan Jackson has a Model A that he has had since he was a teenager. Bob Larson reported that he was also a pilot - with over 400 hours under his belt - but quit flying when he quit remembering where everything was in the cockpit. Unfortunately, he only had on white socks.

Jeanne Dillner hoped that the COVID-19 concerns would subside in time for SIGN to host its conference in June. Dave Larkin reported a busy 5 weeks. Just back from Argentina and Chile, he was immediately put onto a jury for a murder trial which culminated in a Guilty verdict. Chris Senske has spent quite a bit of time traveling recently.

Program – LIGO Amber StrunkToday’s presentation was about a piece of local scientific amazement, the LIGO Hanford Observatory, and was given by the adept presenter Amber Strunk, LIGO’s Education and Outreach Coordinator. Amber can be reached via various means - Twitter: @MissStrunk Email: astrunk@Caltech.edu – as can the LIGO experiment management – Twitter: @LIGOWA Facebook: @LigoHanfordObservatory

Richland Rotary MembersJudy Addis (7/89)Eric Andrews (9/18)Steve Arneson (3/02)Jeremy Asmus (10/07)Jim Bauer (3/19)Linda Bauer (3/19)Bob Best (4/90)Tom Bock (3/76)Fred Brink (6/18)Blaine Carr (12/09)David Chevey-Reynaud (4/17)Travis Clifton (10/16)Andrew Cook (3/19)Claire Cox (6/19)Jeanne Dillner (8/01)Richard Evans (11/18)Kristy Fargher (7/18)Bob Ferguson (3/18)Barbara French (11/98)Julie Funfar (7/13)Linda Gilmore (4/12)Jan Griffin (9/00)Linda Gustafson (3/08)Diahann Howard (4/08)Tom Huntington (5/16)Jan Jackson (6/00)Larry Jecha (8/97)Darrel Johnsen (8/97)Roy Keck (10/04)Danielle Kleist (3/17)Phillip Koech (8/13)Dave Larkin (4/04)Pam Larsen (2/95)Bob Larson (6/90)

Teri LeBlanc (6/18)Phil Lemley (6/06)Tim Lewis (10/03)Eric Livesay (2/18)Patrick McBurney (6/09)Grant McCallum (4/19)Jerry McGuire (3/95)Chris Meiers (12/15)Ian Napier (11/08)Greg Oberg (1/88) Tom O’Brien (11/98)Cynthia Reents (6/09)Dick Richter (6/08)Robert Rivera (7/09)George Sanders (8/18)Rick Schulte (6/14)Jay Scott (10/19)Anjan Sen (11/96)Chris Senske (1/80)Mike Sinclair (1/11)Roscoe Slade (1/20)Chris Smith (8/10) Mark Smith (3/01)Rebecca Thornton (9/18)Bob Tibbatts (6/03)Cynthia Vaughn (12/14Sam Volpentest (1/95)Tom Watkins (9/11)Ken Williams (12/00)Hal Williamson (4/88)Rick Wilson (6/19)Mike Winegardner (11/09)Jacqui Wright (12/13)Joan Wright (3/18)

Honorary Members Bob DeLorenzo, Tom Cowan &

General James Mattis

Current Members:68

Astronomy has been done with a variety of types of light since time immemorial; visible light, infrared light, ultraviolet light, etc. Gravitational Waves provide a different way to do Astronomy and a LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) is an instrument to do that type of Astronomy. LIGO-Hanford is not alone. LIGO-Livingston is operational in Louisiana and several others – including GEO600 in Germany, Virgo in Italy, LIGO-India, KAGRA in Japan – are all LIGOs either already operational or soon will be.

The next generation of gravitational wave observatories is under both theoretical and experimental development. Funded by NASA and the European Space Agency, LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) and is expected to be operational in 2034. The length of the arms of an interferometer is a key parameter that affects its resolution and a space-based interferometer can have arm-lengths that far exceed anything that can be built on Earth.

What is a gravitational wave? Newtonian physics – which tells us that there is a force between any two bodies that have mass - can get us to the moon and back. However, in 1915 Einstein said that there was no force at all, instead there is a deformation in space-time caused by each mass. That is, mass “tells” space-time how to curve; the amount of deformation depends on the mass. An average-sized star will cause a smaller deformation than a white dwarf star, a white dwarf star will cause a smaller deformation than a neutron star and a neutron star will cause a smaller deformation than a black hole.

Einstein reportedly thought it was pointless to search for gravity waves due to their small magnitude. Rainer “Rai” Weiss in 1972 pioneered an experimental way to observe the gravity waves described by Einsetin. He suggested the use of an interferometer to make measurements of gravitational waves; essentially to use a laser as a ruler and to observe changes in the length of the ruler. The arms of LIGO-Hanford are 4 km long (2.5 miles). A gravitational wave is expected to lead to a change in arm length that is less than the size of a proton. Folks driving to Hanford for work causes observable disturbances at LIGO-Hanford. Gravitational waves were first observed on September 14, 2015, an event that led to the Noble prize in Physics for Rai Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish in 2017.

LIGO-Hanford has gone through two ‘observing runs’. Currently, observing run 3 is underway. The number of gravitational wave detections in ‘observing run’ 3 is already above 50. To put this into perspective, there were less than 10 observations in run 1. Why has there been such an increase in observations? A key part of this is upgrades to the equipment. Brownian motion of the atoms in the mirrors used in the detector have an impact on the observations...

It should be noted that the science going on at LIGO-Hanford is the result of a huge collaboration between a great many institutions.

LIGO-Hanford has had a K-12 outreach program for at least 10 years. Construction will begin on a dedicated outreach center in October of this year. The center is expected to be completed in 2022.There was a lively Q&A session after the talk. Here are a few samples of the questions. In the talk, a demonstration of near simultaneous measurements of a gravitational wave and a light burst were reported. If Gravitational Waves travel at the speed of light, why did one get gravitational waves get here sooner? Because their sources are slightly delayed between one another. Gravity waves just go through everything unhindered, light had to get absorbed and then re-emitted. Over the distance that they had both traveled, the difference in time was miniscule. Another question was: Tell me again, how I sit in this chair? The chair is stopping you from following the curve of space-time (that is due to the mass of the Earth). The Earth is rotating about the sun for a similar reason – think of the thing at the mall into which you can roll quarters.

Next weekNo meetings scheduled through March.