Reflections
Noteworthy past program
Douglas Duncan, PhD
Director, Fiske Planetarium
September 8, 2015
He led us to believe we would be hearing about manned flights to Mars.What he really wanted to talk about, what he said he always wants to talk about, was total eclipses of the sun. "It's a life-changing experience," he said, speaking from personal experience--his own life--as well as observation for at least the past two decades. When he described being onboard a ship and seeing the whales and dolphins surface to experience an eclipse, we gave a collective gasp.
August, 2017, the United States lies right in the path a total eclipse, the the total shadow passing just north of Boulder in Wyoming. The image Doug left lingering on the screen told the tale.
After telling of the need for eye protection to watch it, recalling past experiences of the folks at McGuckin Hardware stocking enough simple dark glasses designed for viewing the last partial eclipse, he shared his dream: 10,000,000 glasses distributed around the United States, spearheaded by an organization "not afraid to think Big," a non-profit that would like to generate income to do good.
His audience at BVRC stirred with that. A few spoke up, asking him more details. A few wanted to follow up with conversations with him. Eagerly.
Your BVRC Board of Directors continues those conversations, and there are members of the club who are absolutely interested.
Perhaps this will be the beginning of something Big in 2016.