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 Muizenberg Junior School. Then, when his parents moved to Port Elizabeth in 1950, he attended Grey Junior and subsequently Grey High School.
After graduation he began a six-year stint at 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 Capetown Castle, a ship owned by the Union Castle Line. It was one of the last passenger mail boats to ply the SA-England route, but was sold for scrap in 1967.
Verschuur has one sibling who still lives in Cape Town.
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