Robert J. Lang

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Robert J. Lang
Dr. Robert Lang folding an origami American flag, which includes 50 stars and 13 stripes, from a single uncut square.
Dr. Robert Lang folding an origami American flag, which includes 50 stars and 13 stripes, from a single uncut square.
Born 1961
Ohio
Residence Alamo, California
Citizenship United States
Nationality United States
Fields Optoelectronics, Physics, Mathematics
Institutions NASA
Alma mater California Institute of Technology
Known for Mathematics of origami
This article is about an origami artist named Robert J. Lang. For others, see Robert Lang.

Dr. Robert J. Lang 1961 (age 46–47) is an American physicist who is also one of the foremost origami artists and theorists in the world. He is known for his complex and elegant designs, most notably of insects and animals. He has long been a student of the mathematics of origami and of using computers to study the theories behind origami. He has made great advances in making real-world applications of origami to engineering problems.

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[edit] Education and early occupation

Lang was born in Ohio, and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.[1] Lang attended California Institute of Technology for his undergraduate work in electrical engineering, where he met his wife-to-be, Diane.[2] He earned a Master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford, and returned to Caltech to pursue a Ph.D. in Applied Physics with a dissertation titled “Semiconductor Lasers: New Geometries and Spectral Properties.”[2][3]

Lang began work for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1988.[2] Lang also worked as a research scientist for Spectra Diode Labs of San Jose, California,[4] and then at JDS Uniphase, also of San Jose.[4][5]

Lang has authored or co-authored over 80 publications on semiconductor lasers, optics, and integrated optoelectronics, and holds 46 patents in these fields.[5]

In 2001, Lang left the engineering field to being a full-time origami artist and consultant.[4] However, he still maintains ties to his physics background: he is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Quantum Electronics and does part-time laser consulting for Cypress Semiconductor.[5]

Lang currently resides in Alamo, California.[1]

[edit] Origami

Lang was introduced to origami at the age of six by a teacher who had exhausted other methods of keeping him entertained in the classroom.[2] By his early teens, he was designing original origami patterns.[2] Lang used origami as an escape from the pressures of undergraduate studies. While studying at Caltech, Lang came into contact with other origami masters such as Michael LaFosse , John Montroll, Joseph Wu, and Paul Jackson through the Origami Center of America, now known as OrigamiUSA.[2]

While in Germany for postdoctoral work, Lang and his wife were enamored with Black Forest cuckoo clocks, and he became a sensation in the origami world when he successfully folded one after three months of design and six hours of actual folding.[2]

Lang takes full advantage of modern technology in his origami, including using a laser cutter to help score paper for complex folds.[6]

Lang is recognized as one of the leading theorists of the mathematics of origami. He has developed ways to algorithmatize the design process for origami,[7] and is the author of the proof of the completeness of the Huzita-Hatori axioms.[8]

Lang specializes in finding real-world applications for the various theories of origami he has developed. These included designing folding patterns for a German airbag manufacturer.[3] He has worked with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, where a team is developing a powerful space telescope, with a 100 m (328 ft) lens in the form of a thin membrane. Lang was hired by the team to develop a way to fit the tremendous lens, known as the Eyeglass, into a small rocket in such a way that the lens can be unfolded in space and will not suffer from any permanent marks or creases.[9]

Lang is the author or co-author of eight books and many articles on origami.[1]

[edit] Bibliography

Origami Portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Lang, Robert J. (2007). About the Artist. Robert J. Lang Origami. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Orlean, Susan (February 19, 2007). The Origami Lab. Onward and Upward With the Arts (page 2). The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  3. ^ a b Kirsten Sanford and Justin Jackson. July 7, 2005 Broadcast This Week in Science Podcast accessed on 2007-04-12
  4. ^ a b c Orlean, Susan (February 19, 2007). The Origami Lab. Onward and Upward With the Arts (page 1). The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  5. ^ a b c Orlean, Susan (February 19, 2007). The Origami Lab. Onward and Upward With the Arts (page 4). The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  6. ^ Orlean, Susan (February 19, 2007). The Origami Lab. Onward and Upward With the Arts (page 3). The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
  7. ^ Hull, Thomas (November 29, 2003). Origami Mathematics. Merrimack College. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
  8. ^ Lang, Robert J. (2003). "Origami and Geometric Constructions" (PDF). . Robert J. Lang Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
  9. ^ Britt, Robert Roy (February 20, 2002). Origami Astronomy: The Art and Science of a Giant Folding Space Telescope. Tech Wednesday. Space.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Lang, Robert J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Physicist, Mathematician, Origami expert
DATE OF BIRTH 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Ohio
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH