Michael Sokolski

Michael Sokolski (September 25, 1926 – June 13, 2012) was a Polish-born American design engineer. Sokolski was the inventor

Sokolski was born near Rovno, Poland (now Rivne, Ukraine) on September 25, 1926.

Shortly thereafter, he joined Scantron Corporation, a firm headed by the founding CEO William E. Sanders. Sokolski served as Scantron's Executive Vice President of Engineering. He was the engineer who developed Scantron's multiple choice answer sheets, which use a number 2 pencil to read and grade a student's test results. He held several of the company's optical mark recognition (OMR) patents in the United States. The introduction of the Scantron test revolutionized tests given in all forms of formal education. Scantron's optical scanning technology is also widely used in secure balloting for in-person and mail-in elections, as paper ballots tallied by OMR optical scanning is considered the most resilent and secure form of Voting equipment.

Sokolski simultaneously became active in the communities of Orange County, California. He served on an advisory board for the Orange County Sheriff's Department for several years and became a technical adviser for the Santa Ana Police Department in 1979.

Outside of his career, Sokolski was an avid fisherman, sailor and aviator. He reportedly made 123 fishing trips over the course of twenty-five years, mostly to Wisconsin, the U.S. West Coast and the Queen Charlotte Islands, which are now called Haida Gwaii. He was made an honorary chief of the Haida Nation of British Columbia, receiving the Kilssay G uud (Chief Eagle).

Death Sokolski died of congestive heart failure on June 13, 2012, at the age of 85.