Nico grew up on a farm outside Sutherland, the stargazing capital of South Africa. With his family in the tourism industry and his Dad being an amateur astronomer is hard not to develop an interest in astronomy. After graduating Mechatronic Engineering from Stellenbosch University he was approached by his family to design a digital planetarium in their hometown. Sutherland Planetarium was completed 15 July 2018. Nico is currently working as a Mechanical Engineer at the Southern African Large Telescope outside Sutherland.
