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About

Jonathan Swift is an observational astronomer whose work centers on the detection and characterization of exoplanets, with a particular focus on developing innovative instrumentation for small telescopes. He is the principal investigator behind the **Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA)**, a dedicated U.S.-based facility that employs a robotic array of four 0.7-meter telescopes. Swift’s key contribution lies in demonstrating that modest, automated telescopes can be highly effective in the radial velocity follow-up of transiting exoplanets, a task typically reserved for much larger observatories. His 2015 paper detailing MINERVA’s design and early photometric results has garnered 37 citations, establishing the project as a valuable resource in the exoplanet community. Additionally, Swift has advanced the field through his work on high-throughput fiber coupling units for 1-meter class telescopes, a design that improves the efficiency of feeding starlight into spectrographs. His efforts have helped expand the observational toolkit available to the exoplanet community, enabling more frequent and cost-effective monitoring of nearby stars.