birth_place color nationality field work_institutions birth_date residence image article_title name alma_mater
cape town light black united states 24px naturalized 1975 radio astronomy university of memphis 1937 lakeland , tennessee verschuur_gerrit . jpg gerrit verschuur
 gerrit l. verschuur rhodes university university of manchester
gerrit verschuur

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 -lrb- he has written about astronomy , natural disasters , and earth sciences -rrb- , inventor , a self-employed ip consultant , adjunct professor of physics for the university of memphis , and a lifetime fan of manchester united fc since 1996 he has been the chief scientist for translucent technologies , llc ; a company which is based in memphis , tennessee .
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 garner lake association .
since 1986 he has been married to dr. joan schmelz , a fellow scientist whose specialty is solar astronomy , specifically coronal loops .
verschuur has one son who lives in england .
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 .
he has been an annual speaker at mid-south stargaze , which is `` the annual amateur astronomers conference and star party held at rainwater observatory in french camp , mississippi . ''
in 1971 verschuur was hired as the first director of fiske planetarium for the university of colorado at boulder , and in 1980 he worked with dr. john lilly .
in his primary field of study , however , verschuur `` pioneered the measurement of the interstellar magnetic field using the 21-cm zeeman effect technique . ''
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 . ''
