Date: Thursday, December 11, 2014. 7:30 PM.
Location: Annenberg Auditorium
The last decade of the 20th century has been witness to a revolution in the application of mathematical techniques to origami, the centuries-old Japanese art of paper folding. In this talk, Robert Lang, who is recognized as one of the foremost origami artists in the world, will describe how geometric concepts led to the solution of a broad class of origami folding problems—specifically, the problem of efficiently folding a shape with an arbitrary number and arrangement of flaps—and along the way, enabled origami designs of mind-blowing complexity and realism, some of which you’ll see. The algorithms and theorems of origami design have both shed light on long-standing mathematical questions and solved practical engineering problems, leading, for example, to safer airbags, Brobdingnagian space telescopes, and more.Robert J. LangPhysicist; ArtistRobert J. Lang is recognized as a pioneer in computational origami and the development of formal design algorithms for folding. During the course of his work at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Spectra Diode Laboratories, and JDS Uniphase, he has authored or co-authored more than one hundred papers and fifty patents in lasers and optoelectronics, as well as fourteen books and a CD-ROM on origami. He is a full-time artist and consultant on origami and its applications to engineering problems, but keeps his toes in the world of lasers, and was elected a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2013. He received a PhD in applied physics from Caltech.
Location: Annenberg Auditorium
The last decade of the 20th century has been witness to a revolution in the application of mathematical techniques to origami, the centuries-old Japanese art of paper folding. In this talk, Robert Lang, who is recognized as one of the foremost origami artists in the world, will describe how geometric concepts led to the solution of a broad class of origami folding problems—specifically, the problem of efficiently folding a shape with an arbitrary number and arrangement of flaps—and along the way, enabled origami designs of mind-blowing complexity and realism, some of which you’ll see. The algorithms and theorems of origami design have both shed light on long-standing mathematical questions and solved practical engineering problems, leading, for example, to safer airbags, Brobdingnagian space telescopes, and more.Robert J. LangPhysicist; ArtistRobert J. Lang is recognized as a pioneer in computational origami and the development of formal design algorithms for folding. During the course of his work at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Spectra Diode Laboratories, and JDS Uniphase, he has authored or co-authored more than one hundred papers and fifty patents in lasers and optoelectronics, as well as fourteen books and a CD-ROM on origami. He is a full-time artist and consultant on origami and its applications to engineering problems, but keeps his toes in the world of lasers, and was elected a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2013. He received a PhD in applied physics from Caltech.