This ancient art of paper folding has never been so practical. Origami has led to the creation of safer air bags, Brobdingnagian space telescopes and can be used to solve engineering problems according to Robert Lang, Editor in Chief of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, who will be discussing this topic at the SSU Math Festival Day on Wednesday, April 23 at 4 p.m. in Darwin 103.
"From Flapping Birds To Space Telescopes: The Modern Science Of Origami" will describe how the centuries-old Japanese art has made a revolutionary development with mathematical techniques. Lang will discuss how geometric concepts led to the solution of a broad class of origami folding problems - specifically, the problem of efficiently folding a shape with an arbitrary number and arrangement of flaps - and along the way, enabled origami designs of mind-blowing complexity and realism.
Robert Lang has been studying origami for thirty years, with over 400 designs catalogued and diagrammed. His work combines aspects of the Western school of mathematical origami design with the Eastern emphasis upon line and form to yield models that are at once distinctive, elegant, and challenging to fold.
His lecture is one piece of the M*A*T*H* Colloquium, which meets every Wednesday. Coffee, tea and cookies will be served at 3:45 and the lecture will follow after. For more information, contact Ben Ford at (707) 664-2472.
