Samson A. Johnson

Samson A. Johnson studies exoplanets (planets orbiting stars other than the Sun) using a technique called gravitational microlensing, where the light from a distant star is temporarily magnified by a foreground star or planet passing in front of it, revealing the presence of otherwise invisible planets. Much of this work supports planning for NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, including building statistical models of the Milky Way's stars to predict what kinds of planets the mission will find. This research also touches on related areas like exoplanet detection via the transit method (TESS mission), free-floating 'rogue' planets, and mapping interstellar dust in the Galaxy.

Publication output has fluctuated over the past decade with a notable peak in 2019 and a resurgence starting in 2025, though the 5-year average of about 3-4 papers per year suggests a moderate, somewhat uneven publication pace.

Generated by claude-sonnet-5 from public bibliographic data · Jul 20, 2026