At first glance, the arts and the sciences may seem to be two completely different fields of study. After all, the arts seem to focus on imagination and creativity, and the sciences seem to emphasise information and logic. But they are not so different. For one thing, both fields of study help us understand and explain the world around us. And when it comes to solving real world problems, some of the best solutions combine art and science, as physicist and origami master Robert Lang knows all too well.
Lang has loved origami all his life. He first started making the Japanese paper crafts when he was six years old, after coming across an origami book. “I thought it would be a fun puzzle to follow the instructions and fold the figures,” he said in an interview with Impakter Magazine. Soon, he was searching far and wide for new origami patterns to try. When he stopped being able to find patterns for the shapes he wanted to fold, he began to create his own.
As dedicated to origami as he was, however, Lang still considered it a hobby. He decided to make a career out of his interest in science instead, choosing to study applied physics for his PhD. He eventually became a physicist at a well-known American national laboratory. Despite his pursuit of a science-based career, Lang never stopped folding origami. His attempts at building more complicated origami forms led to his first incredible idea. If he could pin down the mathematical principles of origami, he could reverse-engineer the forms he wanted to build.
The idea worked wonderfully. “Putting origami into mathematical language allowed me to use mathematics to develop new design techniques,” Lang said. Then, he had his second breakthrough. If he could apply engineering techniques to origami, he could surely apply origami techniques to engineering. Origami knowledge could be especially useful for space equipment like telescopes and antennas, as it would allow them to be folded into smaller capsules for launch, and unfolded once in space.
Lang put his theory to work immediately — and was thrilled with the results. Today, he has worked with multiple organisations to weave origami techniques into mechanical products. One of his most important inventions is a folding lens for a powerful space telescope created at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “They built a five-meter prototype based on a design I proposed,” he said happily in an interview with science publication The Institute of Figuring. Lang’s idea to use engineering principles in his origami craft has taken off as well. He is now considered one of the world’s origami experts, and has created many new origami forms, including lifelike dragons and dinosaur skeletons. He proudly displays these on his website. In addition, he has coded a computer programme called TreeMaker to solve complex origami problems, and has written eight books on origami.
When asked what excites him about the origami process, Lang answered, “Novelty, solving problems, and creating something that did not exist before”. It is perhaps no coincidence that this can be applied to his work in physics as well. Lang’s work shows that art and science have more in common than we might think. Perhaps it is time to step back from being on either Team Art or Team Science, and realise that Team Both is the best option by far.
Sources: AICAD, Colossal, Impakter, Institute of Figuring, Robert J Lang Origami