ORIGAMI ARTIST: SCIENTIST TURNS PAPER MODEL CREATOR

A QUARTER CENTURY AGO, physicist Robert Lang worked on laser technology at the US space agency, NASA. Things changed in 2001, when Lang left his job in order to follow his childhood interest, the paper-folding art of origami.


SMN report: Since then, Lang's work has made him a respected name in the world of origami enthusiasts. He creates original, intricate designs that have propelled origami into new heights of complexity.

Not only that, but Robert Lang's origami ideas have helped spearhead new methods of solving engineering problems by applying origami principles to high-tech machinery.

An example is applying origami principles to solving complex real-world engineering problems, such as the delicate and complex task of unfolding spacecraft solar panels. Typically, such components are carried into space folded up into protective casing. Once in space, they unfold like the wings of a huge, prehistoric insect.

And that's where Lang's origami concepts have proved useful, by introducing weight saving techniques and reliability, aspects of technology that are vital for successful space launches.

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