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About

Jurek Brzeski is an instrumentation engineer and technologist whose career has been defined by pioneering contributions to astronomical fiber-positioning systems and multi-object spectrographs at the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO). His most influential work centers on the development of the HERMES spectrograph for the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), a facility-class instrument purpose-built for the GALAH Galactic Archaeology Survey, which has garnered 93 citations and established a new benchmark for high-resolution stellar spectroscopy. Alongside HERMES, Brzeski has played a key role in advancing next-generation survey instruments, including the Hector multi-IFU spectrograph and the SAMI instrument, broadening the field of spatially resolved galaxy spectroscopy. Perhaps most distinctively, Brzeski is the creative force behind **Starbugs** — self-motile, miniature piezoelectric robotic devices capable of simultaneously and independently positioning optical fibers across a telescope's focal plane. This elegant technological innovation, developed through a series of prototypes documented across multiple publications, represents a significant leap beyond conventional fiber-positioning robotics. His 2004 survey of fiber-positioning technologies further demonstrates his encyclopedic grasp of the field. Collectively, Brzeski's work has shaped the instrumentation backbone of modern wide-field astronomy, enabling large-scale surveys that underpin our understanding of galaxy formation and stellar evolution.