Michael Sholl

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Michael Sholl is a key figure in the development of precision instrumentation for massive spectroscopic surveys, with his work directly enabling the next generation of cosmological mapping. His primary research focuses on the design, performance characterization, and quality assurance of robotic fiber positioners—the critical technology that allows multi-object spectrographs to simultaneously capture light from thousands of celestial targets. Sholl’s major contributions center on the BigBOSS instrument (now the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, DESI), a project designed to measure the redshifts of 20 million galaxies and map the universe’s expansion over 8 billion years. His seminal 2012 paper on the R-θ fiber positioner design (7 citations) details the engineering that allows for the rapid, precise positioning of optical fibers, while his companion work on measuring apparatus (6 citations) establishes rigorous methods for quantifying actuator accuracy and throughput—essential for both design iteration and final production. Together, these highly cited papers form the technical foundation for a survey covering 10-20 times the volume of previous studies, cementing Sholl’s role in advancing our understanding of dark energy and cosmic history through innovative astronomical instrumentation.