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About

David Flynn is a prominent astrophysicist whose research has made significant contributions to time-domain astronomy and large-scale sky surveys. His most celebrated work centers on the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a groundbreaking robotic survey system utilizing the Palomar 48-inch Schmidt Telescope, which has accumulated over 1,170 citations since its 2018 publication — a testament to its transformative impact on the field. Flynn's contributions to ZTF helped establish an unprecedented observational infrastructure capable of scanning the entire northern visible sky using a 600-megapixel camera spanning 47 square degrees, achieving survey rates of 3,760 square degrees per hour. This work fundamentally advanced astronomers' ability to detect and characterize transient celestial phenomena, from supernovae to near-Earth asteroids, in near real-time. By developing the data processing pipelines, archival systems, and data products underlying ZTF, Flynn helped democratize access to massive astronomical datasets for researchers worldwide. His work sits at the critical intersection of observational astronomy, data science, and survey engineering, making him an influential figure for students and researchers interested in modern survey astronomy and transient astrophysics.