Rota-Monica #8 | Rotary Club of Santa Monica

We had another exciting program this past week and thanks to all who made it possible. The Cheering Squad was back out cheering the day on to a spirited beginning. Judy Neveau and Richard Lombari thanks for greeting all as we arrived. Richard thanks for serving triple duty today in addition to greeting you delivered a powerful invocation and took some excellent photos. Dr. Bill Buxton, a UCLA Grad and employee was the president’s pick. Dr. Matthew Malkan, Professor at UCLA was our program of the day. Tom Loo was our host and introducer of Dr. Malkan, surrounded by a plethora of UCLA Alumni and Teachers did an excellent job. Thank you, Tom, a USC Law Grad. Kathy Shepard, another UCLA Alum welcomed our visiting Rotarians and Guests. Ken Waltzer accompanied at the keyboard while Nora Bohn led us in our patriotic song and pledge topping the welcome off with a special rendition of Fly Me to the Moon by Bart Howard and Tom Larmore.

Fly us to the moon
And let us play among the stars.
Matt Malkan, what’s your plan?
In other words, educate us.

Tell us about the stars and
What your telescopes can see.
Rotarians are interested
In space and astronomy.
In other words, space we’ll vies.
In other words, we welcome you!

We enjoyed having our largest number of guests this year to attend this informative meeting. Thanks to everyone who invited guests and especially Tom Loo and Ken Waltzer, each had a table of guests. Among our visiting Rotarians we had Makiko Nakasone, our District Governor Elect.

The Program of the Day was Dr. Matthew Malkan.
Dr. Matthew Malkan is currently a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California Los Angeles and is known for using infrared array detectors at Lick and Keck Observatories to discover and study galaxies in their first stages of evolution. He was the first to use narrow-band imaging to detect emission-line galaxies at high redshifts (1995 ApJ 448, L5; 1996 ApJ 486, L9). The strongest emission lines from star-forming regions, which are redshifted into the near-infrared are Halpha (1999 ApJ 520, 469) and [O III] (1999 ApJ 514, 33). The near-infrared search for distant young galaxies has also been successfully extended to a Grism Parallel Survey with the NICMOS infrared camera on the Hubble Space Telescope (1999 ApJ 520, 548; 1999 ApJ 519, L47).

Professor Malkan’s presentation included a slide show with his live detailed commentary about deep space showing the first of the photos from the ten-billion-dollar James Web space telescope. The attendees were spell-bound which proof was demonstrated in the Q&A following. His enthusiasm on this subject was felt in the entire room. He explained that the world would be revolutionized with the discoveries made by JWST. He informed us of the worldwide partnership developed to put this awesome unit into outer space. He estimated that optimal distance to still communicate with the spaceship is about a million miles into outer space. What a treat for our club to have this visit just as the first photos are received back to earth. Many thanks to Past President Tom Loo for seeking this opportunity for a couple of years.

One writer in the NYT illustrated how the those on the other end of the James Webb Space Telescope may be preparing to be seen by earthlings. (Thanks Ken for the clip).

Avraham Perlmutter, Ph.D. (father of RCSM Past President Sharon Perlmutter Gavin) passed away peacefully on August 17, 2022, in Pacific Palisades, CA, at the age of 94. He was a Santa Monica resident for over 50 years.

Avraham was an award-winning scientist, businessman, author, and public speaker. He was born on August 28, 1927, in Vienna, Austria. After Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, his parents sent him to the Netherlands. During the ensuing war-torn years, Avraham braved harrowing captures, daring escapes, torturous hiding, and heartbreaking losses. Yet he also experienced the goodness of humanity through the strangers who helped him.

He emerged from the Holocaust with a positive perspective on life, choosing to focus on the people who helped him rather than those set on defeating him. Surviving the Holocaust took ingenuity, guts, and sheer determination—all of which he called on again when he helped to establish the State of Israel during its War of Independence.

Fluent in seven languages, he went on to pursue his education in the U.S., earning a Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering. Avraham founded a successful engineering company and developed many innovative products, including the Dynalens, an image stabilization system that won a Scientific and Technical Academy Award. He subsequently founded several other businesses.

For many years, Avraham shared his extraordinary life story and its universal lessons, including the importance of possessing determination and resilience, of helping others, of having compassion, empathy, and tolerance for all people, and of obtaining a good education. He spoke to thousands of people at museums, schools, and other venues (including at the RCSM on August 7, 2015). His inspirational tale was also conveyed by his #1 best-selling autobiography, “Determined: The Story of Holocaust Survivor Avraham Perlmutter” (featured at the October 2020 RCSM Book Club) and the award-winning documentary of the same name.

Avraham was a very loving, warm, caring, and kind person, and he loved to help others. Devoted to his family, he was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. He was married to his wife, Ruth, for 62 years. He is survived by his four children and five grandchildren.

This Friday, Sept 2, Remember Rotary is DARK for Labor Day.

Join Us!
September 9th at the HILTON
Speaker: Jim Harris, Executive Director
Santa Monica Pier Corporation

On September 9, 1909 the Santa Monica Pier was born. Today’s presentation is actually celebrating the Pier’s 113th birthday of the Pier. Join us, as we learn about the pier’s history!

Host Rotarian Introducer:
Rotarian Lisa Alexander.

Health Equity – An Overview
Health equity is our goal, and it means the attainment of the highest level of health for all people, where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their optimal health regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, preferred language, or other factors that affect access to care and health outcomes.

Speaker: Woody Brokenburr, MBA
Host Rotarian Introducer: Rotarian Kathryn Markolf

Rotary Santa Monica Vets so far:
Michael Cates, Stan Fox, Richard Lombardi, Monty McCormick, John McIntire, Jim Menzies, Robert Sullivan & Russ Warner

TROIKA SIGN UP

Fellow Rotarians:
As we gather pace this new Rotary year, I would like to announce that Rotary Networking Committee is kicking off the Rotary Troika program! The troikas are a gathering of three Rotarians (Santa Monica Club members only) for a breakfast, lunch, dinner, happy hour, coffee or whatever, in which they get to know each other better both personally and professionally.

If you are interested in joining the Rotary Troika program please email me at [email protected] and I will put you on the list. We will leave the window to sign up for a couple of weeks. Please note we do our best not to duplicate groupings of individuals in our random selection process. However, we cannot take special requests prior nor can we make alterations after we create the pairings.

Remember, this is a friendly and easy way to meet your fellow Rotarians and get to know them better. If there is someone on the list, or even not on the list, that you are not paired with and that you would like to get to know better, please don’t hesitate to give them a call to set up a private meeting.

When the groups are finalized, we will send out a notice and explain how the program works and who is responsible for organizing each troika. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Daniel Bennett