055 SMITH JOURNAL<<
While all this was happening, Lang was also
busy earning a Ph.D. in applied physics, with
a focus on semiconductors and lasers. After
starting at NASA, he spent 13 years bouncing
between government agencies and tech start-
ups, writing more than 80 technical papers
and collecting 50 patents along the way. But
by the early 2000s, Lang was beginning to
realise there was something missing from
his professional life: origami. While he had
already published a number of books on the
subject, including the genre-defining Origami
Insects and Their Kin, what he really craved
was to write a book that explained to others
how they could create their own designs – just
like he did when he was 11. “I decided there
were lots of laser physicists in the world,”
he explains. “There is nothing I might do in
lasers that couldn’t be done by someone else.
But I felt really strongly that I was the only
person who could write this book.”
In 2001, Lang resigned from his job and
dedicated himself full-time to origami.
He soon discovered that, far from being a
permanent rupture with his professional
past, focusing on origami actually opened
up a whole new world of scientific possibility.
“I found that the theoretical problems that
arise in the theory of folding paper are every bit
as mathematical and intellectually stimulating
as the ones that I had been doing in lasers. But
it’s all the math of folding now rather than of
photons.” It didn’t take long for the inevitable
crossover to occur. “I soon realised that an
awful lot of my origami opportunities ended
up with me having to solve mathematical
problems that relate to technology.”
The field of scientific origami is unexpectedly
diverse, ranging from medical applications
- implants that need to unfold in just the
right way – through to defensive ones, such as
bulletproof, fold-out origami shields for use
by SWAT teams. A few years ago Lang found
himself working with the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory once again, helping to design
a new space-bound solar array that could
unfold from three metres to almost 30. This
followed on from work he did at the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory, where he
worked out how to fold a 100-metre-wide
telescope into a single rocket. Right now he’s
exploring how origami can solve the problem
of ‘rigid folds’: how objects made out of
inflexible material such as wood and metal
act under external pressure. To explain what
he’s talking about, Lang holds up a single,
uncut sheet of wood veneer that he’s woven
into a mind-bogglingly intricate geometric
pattern. It looks, quite simply, as if it shouldn’t
exist. “We’re solving a real-world practical
problem, because these sorts of patterns are
useful in architectural facades, solar arrays,
furniture and lots of other things. This is what
I love to do. It’s mathematical, it’s applied to
technology, and it makes beautiful art.”For Lang, the true thrill is in the field’s unique
combination of art and science. “The joy
of solving mathematical problems around
origami is as interesting for its own sake as
the creation of beautiful folded objects.” In the
past few years, Lang has constructed giant
dinosaurs (including a Pteranodon with a
four-and-a-half-metre wingspan), and helped
a team of scientists create an origami bird
the width of five human hairs, self-assembled
from a programmable polymer sheet. He
recently completed a life-size cactus, complete
with more than 400 delicately rendered
spines, that he’d spent several years creating.
“When I’m making origami, I lose track of the
rest of the world. It’s just me, my hands, and
the paper that I’m folding.”Asked whether there’s some final paper
Everest he wants to conquer one day, Lang
pauses. “The thing about origami is that I’ll
never run out of new challenges,” he says.
“When I succeed at a challenge, that just
leads to the next bigger challenge. It’s like
climbing a mountain. You get to the top and
then you can see an even taller peak one
valley over. So, now you go for that one.
It just keeps going.” •SCIENTIFIC ORIGAMI IS
UNEXPECTEDLY DIVERSE,
RANGING FROM MEDICAL
APPLICATIONS THROUGH
TO DEFENSIVE ONES.