Multi-object spectrographs

In my research I have used extensively multi-object spectrographs to follow-up large samples of X-ray selected AGN.  The main spectroscopic surveys I have been involved in are:  the CDFS 1Ms follow-up with FORS and VIMOS at the VLT,  the GOODS spectroscopic survey at the VLT with FORS and VIMOS, and the zCOSMOS survey conducted with the  VIMOS spectrograph at the VLT.

At ESO I am also Project Scientist of two new multi-object spectrographs: the 4MOST facility a 4 square degrees spectrograph mounted at the 4m VISTA telescope in Paranal, and MOSAIC a multi-object spectrograph under study for the ELT.

I initiated the assembly of the community interested to the Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) and I am since 2021 the leading scientist (Project Scientist) of the Science Team, which includes more than 850 scientists from 41 countries spread across five continents. I am part of the project office and I lead the scientific activities of this very large science team, which I have organized in multiple working groups. I led the publication of the first version of the WST White Paper (Mainieri et al. 2024) which shows the transformational potential of what could become the next large optical/near-infrared astronomical facility from the ground.