During the Second World War he served in the South African Air Force and was awarded the Africa Star and mentioned in Dispatches.
[3] Daniel Overbeek's serious interest in astronomy dates back to 1951, when he started observing occultations and variable stars.
[4] In 1998, he became the first amateur astronomer who detected supernova related gamma ray burst effects.
He also monitored Earth's magnetic field[1] and seismic activity with a magnetometer and a seismograph he had built, and observed sudden ionospheric disturbance.
[4] In 1956, Overbeek became the chairman of the Transvaal Centre of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA).