Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., March 6, 2009 — On Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14, Williams College will welcome Robert Lang, a master of origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into different shapes.
On Friday, Lang will give a public talk “From Flapping Birds to Space Telescopes: the Modern Science of Origami.” The lecture will be held in the Paresky Auditorium at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, he will participate in a symposium in conjunction with the computer science, art, and math departments. For more information, go to http://www.cs.williams.edu/~morgan/
Lang is recognized as one of the one of the world’s leading masters in the art of origami with over 500 designs catalogued and diagramed. His work mixes aspects of the Western school of mathematical origami design with Eastern emphasis upon line and form to yield models that are distinctive yet elegant.
His repertoire includes some of the most complex pieces of origami art ever created. He uses opus numbers to distinguish his different compositions. His published works with diagrams include “The Complete Book of Origami” (1988), “Origami in Action” (1996) and “Origami Design Secrets” (2003).
Lang’s creations have been exhibited in Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art, Peabody Essex Museum, San Diego Mingei Museum of World Folk Art, and Nippon Museum of Origami in Kaga, Japan, among others.
One of the pioneers of the cross-disciplinary marriage of origami, mathematics, and science, Lang has presented papers on origami-math at mathematic and computer science professional meetings.
Before devoting his time to origami, he had a successful career as a physicist and engineer. He is co-author of more than 80 technical applications and holds 40 patents on semiconductor lasers, optics, and integrated optoelectronics.
He received his B.A. in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology, a master’s degree from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. from Caltech.
The events are sponsored by the Williams College departments of computer science, mathematics and statistics, and the lecture committee.
For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Public Affairs (413) 597-4277. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/home/campusmap/
Event: Allan Gonzalez
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Published March 6, 2009
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