P. Bonifacio

Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique et Instrumentation, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres

Papers

Total Citations

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About

P. Bonifacio is a key figure in the development of next-generation astronomical instrumentation, with a primary focus on fibre positioning systems for wide-field spectroscopy. Their major contributions center on the WEAVE spectrograph at the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) in La Palma, a multi-object "pick and place" fibre-fed instrument with over one thousand fibres. Bonifacio's work has been instrumental in designing and implementing the fibre positioner, which is critical for the accurate placement of the spectrograph's 960-fibre multiplex, enabling high-throughput observations across a 2-degree field of view. Their most cited paper, "Fibre positioning algorithms for the WEAVE spectrograph" (2014, 13 citations), outlines the core algorithms that drive this system, while subsequent work on final assembly, metrology, and testing (2020, 6 citations) demonstrates their hands-on role in bringing the instrument to fruition. With a career spanning from early concept papers (2014) to final integration (2020), Bonifacio has made lasting contributions to optical astronomy, ensuring WEAVE's capability to survey millions of objects. Their research is essential for students and researchers interested in precision instrumentation and the engineering behind large-scale spectroscopic surveys.