Regular Meeting Monday, Nov 06, 2017 (Nov 06, 2017)

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Posted by Neil Swayze on Nov 06, 2017

Meeting called to order by President designate: Karen Redman, at 12:35. Cam offered an appropriate prayer related to Remembrance Day followed by a hearty rendition of O Canada by the members.

Karen welcomed all members & guests then outlined how the meeting would run with the Remembrance Day presentation coming first and the business meeting to follow.

Special Presentation:

A Remembrance Day presentation was offered to the members with a video of iconic Canadian memorials shown, such as, Vimy Ridge, Dunkirk Cemetery and Passendale; followed by a minute of silence then additional video of our national capital's ceremony held every November 11^th.

BELL RINGER(S)

Posted by Neil Swayze on Nov 06, 2017

No Bell Ringer announced today.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS / GUESTS

Posted by Neil Swayze on Nov 06, 2017

Bill Proctor welcomed guest speaker Dan Younger and Bill's wife Judy to the meeting today.

BIRTHDAYS

Posted by Dave Chatson on Nov 06, 2017

Happy Birthday to Rohit Kumar on November 11th!

50/50 DRAW

Posted by Neil Swayze on Oct 30, 2017

Today's 50-50 draw: Total to date $772 .00. None of Cam Yule, Jill Melanson or Russ St. Louis were lucky on the draw. The pot lives!

HAPPY JAR

Posted by Neil Swayze on Nov 06, 2017

There were no Happy Jar announcements today

CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS

Posted by Neil Swayze on Nov 06, 2017

Jim Phillips gave an Online Auction Update. The auction is up and running with approximately 900 items listed on the site. He encouraged members to invite their family and friends to participate in the bidding, as well as , handing out the business cards to colleagues and putting up signs in their neighbourhoods or work locations. He had placed Donation forms on the tables for all to use if they any auction items still to come as we will accept any up until Monday Nov. 13th.

Wayne Boehler brought to the attention of members that the Car Draw will soon come to an end so all ticket stubs need to be in by next Monday, Nov. 13th. We have 20+ members set to sell tickets the final night of Nov. 17th at the AUD when the Draw will take place.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Posted by Neil Swayze on Nov 06, 2017

Ken Seiling gave the introduction to our guest speaker, Professor Emeritus, Dan Younger, from St. Jerome's at University of Waterloo. Background included his years at UW from 1967 until his retirement in 2005.

Professor Younger spoke on the topic of William Tutte a colleague and professor at UW who was part of the World War II Code-breaker research team that helped the allies crack many of the Nazi communication codes. Dan began by outlining the younger years of William Tutte as he grew up in New Market, England with his working class parents. He was always interested as a boy in mathematics and chemistry so in grade school he had done well in his studies. When his parents moved to Cheveley; a small village; at 10 years old; he wrote a scholarship exam for high school and was offered a placement. The high school was 18 kilometers away and he had no way of getting there so his parents refused to let him go. The next year, he wrote it again and was successful but the scholarship also offered a bicycle so he could attend. While in high school, he won several prizes in mathematics and chemistry so he was offered a placement at Trinity College and majored as a chemistry student. He graduated in 1938 and wanted to pursue a PhD but felt mathematics better suited him. With no offers, an adviser, Patrick Duff, connected him with a colleague at Betchley Park in London which was a secret research facility to decode Nazi communications. He worked on a project that was trying to decipher the Italian Hagelin cipher machine. It was a high speed teletype machine used by the Italian navy. After intercepting a 4000 letter teletype tape; Tutte deduced that the machine had 12 wheels with spokes and with only six weeks of analysis he was able to break the code. This was of tremendous value since Berlin used it to communicate with its generals in the field. The machine he used to break the code was known as the Lorenz machine. Like the Enigma machine; the Nazis were unaware they were being listened to. In 1943, the Nazis found out what was happening and the messages abruptly stopped. Now in order to decipher the messages they needed a high speed computer. Colleagues of Tutte; Max Newman designed a computer called “Colossus” [a hugh machine] and Tom Flowers built it. Eight in all were built which lead to 90% of the messages being able to be read.

After the war, Tutte was named a fellow to Trinity College which allowed him to work on his PhD. An offer from a colleague from Betchley lead to a lecturer position at the University of Toronto where he met his future wife Dorothea. In 1967, he was coaxed to come to UW to lecture in the math dept. he and his wife lived in West Montrose not far from the covered bridge. It wasn't until the 1990's that it was discovered that he was part of the Betchley code-breakers when they rebuilt Colossus and asked him to attend. There the Duke of Kent asked him about his role so he explained his part in the code breaking. A letter to Dan explained his experiences at the ceremony and that was his first inkling that Tutte was war hero. He never let on he had a role in the code breaking as he was sworn to secrecy by the British government. Later Canada recognized his efforts by making him an” Officer of the Order of Canada” presented by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. The CSE has named a department, The Tutte Institute, after him.

CLOSING REMARKS AND REMINDERS

Karen thanked Dan for his wonderful story of a local academic who had a big impact on the world and locally. One hundred polio vaccinations for children was offered in thanks for him being there today.

She reminded everyone that next meeting to bring in ticket stubs for the Car Draw and any personal donations for the Online Auction.

MEMBERSHIP PROPOSAL

Posted by David Chatson on Nov 06, 2017

The Classification and Membership Development Committee on behalf of the Board of Directors have approved the following proposal for membership in the Satellite Club of the Rotary Club of Kitchener as proposed by Rotarian Brent DeKoning

Candidate: Alana Simpson Classification: Teacher/Education

Candidate: Caitlin Simpson Classification: Financial Planner

Candidate: Stacey Krumholtz Classification: Medical Illustrator

Any objection to acceptance must be in the hands of Secretary, Cam Yule, in writing, no later than Friday, April 17th, 2017.

1st Publication.

MEMBERSHIP STATUS

Posted by Bill Proctor on Aug 28, 2017

57 ACTIVE
6 HONOURARY
TOTAL 63