Evert was born in Chicago, Il and raised in the Southern California town of Riverside. He is an electrical engineer with a Ph.D in control systems from Santa Clara University. After many years working on computer control systems he joined the Lockheed Martin Corporation where he was introduced to adaptive optics. He worked on the AirBorne Laser (ABL) system, which used an adaptively compensated high intensity laser beam to shoot down targets. This career change led to his current interest in using adaptive optics to correct atmospheric turbulence.
Evert has held a life long interest in astronomy from a young age, but starting a career and raising a family relegated it to a back burner position. It wasn’t until his loving wife Lynda put a modest telescope under the Christmas tree that his interest in astronomy was kindled beyond lying on the driveway and looking up at the stars. Then in 1996, a job in Oklahoma City gave opportunity to meet Dobsonian telescope maker, Pete Kron, at an Oklahoma City Astronomy Club sponsored star party. Pete made him a 16-inch Dob in 1998 and opened the skies to its astronomical wonders. Evert and his wife spent many happy nights under the Oklahoma and California skies. With the help of family and friends, he built an observatory in 2003 in Morgan Hill, California, and a SBIG ST-8xme was purchased in 2004. The first Advanced Imaging Conference was attended in 2007 and a better telescope, an RC-20, was installed with the help of family and friends in 2008. Unhappy with the poor seeing imposed upon the new telescope’s performance, characterization of atmospheric turbulence began in 2009 and a “spotlight” presentation of his work was made to the Advanced Imaging Conference in 2013.