Gerrit Verschuur

Infobox_Scientist
color=light black
name=Gerrit L. Verschuur


caption=Gerrit L. Verschuur
birth_date= 1937
birth_place = Cape Town
residence = Lakeland, TN
nationality = United States
Naturalized 1975
field = Radio Astronomy
work_institutions = University of Memphis
alma_mater = Rhodes University
University of Manchester
spouse = Dr. Joan Schmelz
children = One son, living in England

Gerrit L. Verschuur, PhD, born in 1937 in Cape Town, South Africa, is a naturalized American scientist who is best known for his work in radio astronomy. Though a pioneer in that field—he has 50 years of experience—Verschuur is also an author (he has written about astronomy, natural disasters, and earth sciences), inventor, a self-employed IP Consultant, adjunct professor of physics for the University of Memphis , and a lifetime fan of the Manchester United Football Club. Since 1996 he has been the Chief Scientist for Translucent Technologies, LLC; a company which is based in Memphis, Tennessee [ [http://www.uncommonlylakeland.com/el_verschuur.shtml Uncommonly Lakeland ] ] .

In 1992 Verschuur became a resident of the City of Lakeland, which is located in Shelby County, Tennessee, and is northeast of Memphis. In 2001 Verschuur was elected, and served a four year term as Commissioner. In 2007 Verschuur was elected again and is currently serving another term as Commissioner; this one, for two years. At present, Verschuur is also the President of the [http://www.garnerlake.com/glainformation.html Garner Lake Association] . Since 1986 he has been married to Dr. Joan Schmelz, a fellow scientist whose specialty is solar astronomy, specifically Coronal Loops [ [http://library.thinkquest.org/20117/schmelz.html Women in science - Earth and Space - Dr. Joan T. Schmelz ] ] . Verschuur has one son who lives in England [ [http://www.uncommonlylakeland.com/el_verschuur.shtml Uncommonly Lakeland ] ] .

A frequent lecturer, Verschuur has taught at the University of Manchester, Rhodes University, the universities of Colorado and Maryland, UCLA, and the University of California, Berkeley, among others [http://jepson.richmond.edu/academics/projects/Discovery.htm ("See: Verschuur")] . He has been an annual speaker at [http://www.rainwaterobservatory.org/stargaze/ Mid-South Stargaze] , which is “the annual amateur astronomers conference and star party held at Rainwater Observatory in French Camp,” [ [http://www.rainwaterobservatory.org/stargaze/ Mid-South Star Gaze ] ] Mississippi. In 1971 Verschuur was hired as the first Director of [http://fiske.colorado.edu/ Fiske Planetarium] for the University of Colorado at Boulder [ [http://fiske.colorado.edu/history.php History // Fiske Planetarium ] ] , and in 1980 he worked with Dr. John Lilly [http://jepson.richmond.edu/academics/projects/Discovery.htm ("See: Verschuur")] .

In his primary field of study, however, Verschuur "pioneered the measurement of the interstellar magnetic field using the 21-cm Zeeman effect technique." [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20070806065450re_/www.knowledge.co.uk/sis/abstract/verschur.htm Our Place In Space: The Implications Of Impact Catastrophes On Human Thought And Behaviour ] ] A thing which, according to Virginia Trimble, for the first time allowed astronomers to "measure magnetic strengths and their place-to-place variations with some confidence." [http://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/beamline/26/1/26-1-trimble.pdf ("Beamline, Spring/Summer 1996, Vol. 26, No. 1, pages 40-41".)]

Biography

Gerrit L. Verschuur was born in 1937 in Cape Town, South Africa, at the foot of Table Mountain. In 1936, his parents had emigrated from The Netherlands and settled in Cape Town. Two years after he was born--in 1939--his parents moved again, choosing a suburb of Cape Town named Lakeside. While he was living there, Verschuur attended [http://www.muizenbergjs.wcape.school.za/ Muizenberg Junior School] . Then, when his parents moved to Port Elizabeth in 1950, he attended [http://www.grey.ecape.school.za/greyjunior/ Grey Junior] and subsequently [http://www.grey.ecape.school.za/greyhigh/ Grey High School] .

After graduation he began a six-year stint at [http://www.ru.ac.za/ Rhodes University] in Grahamstown where he earned a B.Sc. in 1957--Majors: Math, Physics, & Applied Math; a B.Sc.(Hons) of Physics in 1958; and a M.Sc degree of physics, in 1960.

In December 1960 he sailed for Southampton, England on the stately [http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/uclcape.htm Capetown Castle] , a ship owned by the Union Castle Line [ [http://maritimematters.com/union-castle.html Union-Castle Line: Maritime Matters ] ] . It was one of the last passenger mail boats to ply the SA-England route, but was "sold for scrap in 1967." [ [http://www.timetableimages.com/maritime/images/uclcape.htm Union-Castle Line - Athlone Castle - Stirling Castle - Capetown Castle ] ]

Verschuur has one sibling who still lives in Cape Town.

Current Research

Verschuur is at the center of a recent debate over the age of the universe [ [http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/31828 Analysis confronts model of universe’s formation - physicsworld.com ] ] [ [http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2007/11/big_bang Big Bang or Big Goof? Astronomer Verschuur Challenges 'Seeds' Proof ] ] . He claims that images from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) are not pictures of the universe in its early form, but rather hydrogen gas clouds in our own galaxy. If he is shown to be correct, much work relating to the Big Bang Theory would be undermined.

On December 10, 2007 his work with respect to COBE, WMAP, and HI, was published in the The Astrophysical Journal [ [http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/522685 "High Galactic Latitude Interstellar Neutral Hydrogen Structure and Associated (WMAP) High‐Frequency Continuum Emission"] (Abstract)] . It is currently undergoing deeper statistical analysis.

Selected Publications

Books

* ""The Invisible Universe: The Story of Radio Astronomy."
Springer-Verlag, New York, 1974 [http://www.reciprocalsystem.com/nfs/references.html (See: #65.)]
"Nominated for National Book Award - then disqualified because I was not a US citizen at the time." [http://jepson.richmond.edu/academics/projects/Discovery.htm (See: Verschuur)]
* ""Galactic and Extragalactic Radio Astronomy."
Springer-Verlag, New York, 1974
Co-edited with K.I. Kellerman [ [http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=4182195 Energy Citations Database (ECD) - - Document #4182195 ] ]
ISBN 0-387-06504-0
*""Cosmic Evolution: An Introduction to Astronomy."
Houghton Mifflin, 1978
Co-Author with George B. Field and Cyril Ponnamperuma [ [http://z3950.silo.lib.ia.us/cgi-bin/search.CGI?SILO&index_0=ISBN/STRUCTURE:PHRASE/TRUNC:RIGHT/POSITION:0&term_0=0395253217&start=1&records=25&elemname=B Silo.lib.ia.us] ]
ISBN 0395253217
*""Starscapes."
Little Brown & Co., Boston, 1977 [http://www.reciprocalsystem.com/nfs/references.html (See: #74.)]
ISBN 0316900303
*""Cosmic Catastrophes."
Addison Wesley Longman Publishing Co., 1978
ISBN 0201080990
*""Interstellar Matters: Essays on Curiosity and Astronomical Discovery."
Springer-Verlag, 1989
ISBN 0387968148
*""Hidden Attraction: The History and Mystery of Magnetism."
Oxford University Press, 1996, (First Published 1993)
ISBN 0195106555
*""Impact!: The Threat of Comets and Asteroids."
Oxford University Press, 1996
ISBN 0195101057
*""The Invisible Universe: The Story of Radio Astronomy."
Springer, 2nd. ed., 2007
ISBN 978-0-387-30816-6

=Encyclopaedia Articles=

*"Interstellar Medium"
"Encyclopedia Britannica"
(15th edition) Volume I-J. pp 790-800, 1973
*"Interstellar Matter"
"Encyclopedia Britannica"
(Asian edition) 1986
*"Magnetic Fields and Galactic Structure."
"Reference Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics."
Ed. S. Maran, Van Nostrand Rheinhold, New York, 1992

External links

* [http://www.lakelandtn.gov/ City of Lakeland]
* [http://lakelandtn.com/ Lakelandtn.com]
* [http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apj/current The Astrophysical Journal]
* [http://www.springer.com/west/home?SGWID=4-102-0-0-0 Springer.com]
* [http://www.oup.com/ Oxford University Press]
* [http://physics.memphis.edu/SOLAR/index.htm U.M. Solar Physics: Home]
* [http://www.garnerlake.com/ Garner Lake Association]

References