About me

Hi there! 👋 My name is Geert, which is Dutch for Gerard.

I am a software engineer with a curiosity for science gone out of hand. I have degrees in both Computer Science (MSc) and Physics (PhD) and benefit from 10+ years experience in building open source scientific software and analyzing data. My experience includes diverse projects at three universities 👨‍🎓, two space agencies 🚀, and one meteorological institute 🌤. My journey allowed me to work in five countries and three languages so far.

In recent years, I was part of the team that rescued NASA's award-winning Kepler Space Telescope. I was privileged to experience first hand how a small team of skilled engineers can achieve miracles when given the freedom to take risks, prototype rapidly, and collaborate in a positive culture. It enabled us to rescue the spacecraft and extend the mission by four years, leading to the discovery of 300+ new planets across the galaxy.