Robert J. Lang

Infobox_Scientist
name = Robert J. Lang

---

image_width = 300px
caption = Dr. Robert Lang folding an origami American flag, which includes 50 stars and 13 stripes, from a single uncut square.
birth_date = May 4, 1961
birth_place = Dayton, Ohio
death_date =
death_place =
residence = Alamo, California
citizenship = United States
nationality = United States
ethnicity =
field = Optoelectronics, Physics, Mathematics
work_institution = NASA
alma_mater = California Institute of Technology
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = Mathematics of origami
prizes =
religion =
footnotes = :"This article is about an origami artist named Robert J. Lang. For others, see Robert Lang."

Dr. Robert J. Lang Birth year and age|1961 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.

Education and early occupation

Lang was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.cite web
url = http://www.langorigami.com/artist/artist.php4
title = About the Artist
accessdate = 2007-04-12
last = Lang
first = Robert J.
authorlink = Robert J. Lang
year = 2007
publisher = Robert J. Lang Origami ] Lang attended California Institute of Technology for his undergraduate work in electrical engineering, where he met his wife-to-be, Diane.cite web
url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/19/070219fa_fact_orlean?currentPage=2
title = The Origami Lab
accessdate = 2007-04-11
last = Orlean
first = Susan
authorlink = Susan Orlean
date = February 19, 2007
work = Onward and Upward With the Arts
publisher = The New Yorker
pages = (page 2)
archiveurl =
archivedate = ] He earned a Master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1983, and returned to Caltech to pursue a Ph.D. in Applied Physics with a dissertation titled “Semiconductor Lasers: New Geometries and Spectral Properties.”cite podcast
url = http://www.twis.org/audio/2005/07/26/
title = July 7, 2005 Broadcast
website = This Week in Science
host = Kirsten Sanford and Justin Jackson
date = July 7, 2005
accessdate = 04-12
accessyear = 2007]

Lang began work for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1988. Lang also worked as a research scientist for Spectra Diode Labs of San Jose, California,cite web
url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/19/070219fa_fact_orlean?currentPage=1
title = The Origami Lab
accessdate = 2007-04-11
last = Orlean
first = Susan
authorlink = Susan Orlean
date = February 19, 2007
work = Onward and Upward With the Arts
publisher = The New Yorker
pages = (page 1)
archiveurl =
archivedate = ] and then at JDS Uniphase, also of San Jose.cite web
url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/19/070219fa_fact_orlean?currentPage=4
title = The Origami Lab
accessdate = 2007-04-11
last = Orlean
first = Susan
authorlink = Susan Orlean
date = February 19, 2007
work = Onward and Upward With the Arts
publisher = The New Yorker
pages = (page 4)
archiveurl =
archivedate = ]

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

In 2001, Lang left the engineering field to being a full-time origami artist and consultant. 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.

Lang currently resides in Alamo, California.

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. By his early teens, he was designing original origami patterns. 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.

While in Germany for postdoctoral work, Lang and his wife were enamored of 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.

Lang takes full advantage of modern technology in his origami, including using a laser cutter to help score paper for complex folds.cite web
url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/02/19/070219fa_fact_orlean?currentPage=3
title = The Origami Lab
accessdate = 2007-04-11
last = Orlean
first = Susan
authorlink = Susan Orlean
date = February 19, 2007
work = Onward and Upward With the Arts
publisher = The New Yorker
pages = (page 3)
archiveurl =
archivedate = ]

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,cite web
url = http://merrimack.edu/~thull/OrigamiMath.html
title = Origami Mathematics
accessdate = 2007-04-12
last = Hull
first = Thomas
date = November 29, 2003
publisher = Merrimack College] and is the author of the proof of the completeness of the Huzita-Hatori axioms.cite paper
author = Lang, Robert J.
title = Origami and Geometric Constructions
publisher = Robert J. Lang
date = 2003
url = http://www.langorigami.com/science/hha/origami_constructions.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-04-12]

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. 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 engaged 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.cite web
url = http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/origami_design_020220-1.html
title = Origami Astronomy: The Art and Science of a Giant Folding Space Telescope
accessdate = 2007-04-12
last = Britt
first = Robert Roy
date = February 20, 2002
work = Tech Wednesday
publisher = Space.com]

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

Bibliography

* ""; [http://www.doverpublications.com/ Dover Publications] , 1988
* "" (with Stephen Weiss ); [http://www.stmartins.com/ St. Martin's Press] , 1989
* "" (with John Montroll); Dover Publications, 1990
* ""; [http://isbndb.com/d/publisher/crescent_books.html Crescent] , 1992; out of print
* ""; Dover Publications, 1995
* ""; St. Martin's Press, 1996
* " [http://www.origamihouse.jp/book/original/insects2/insects2index.html Origami Insects II] "; [http://www.origamihouse.jp/ Gallery Origami House] , 2003
* ""; [http://www.akpeters.com/ AK Peters, Ltd.] , 2003

References

* [http://www.langorigami.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=5248079 Doctoral Thesis Abstract]
* [http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail660.html Computational Origami] from IT Conversations
* [http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2004/11/20041117_b_main.asp Radio interview] at "The Connection"
* [http://theiff.org/publications/cab17-lang.html Interview with Robert Lang,] by Margaret Wertheim, featured in "Cabinet" magazine, Issue 17, Spring 2005

External links

* [http://www.californiaconnected.org/tv/archives/146 Origami Engineering in the Fold: video report on origami telescopes]
* [http://www.californiaconnected.org/tv/archives/147 An Origami Space Telescope]
* [http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html Lang's lecture] at TED

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=