Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2011 - (Page 30)

The Wonk Factor Lang isn’t the only math and science wonk enchanted by paper folding. “I remember being 10 years old and unfolding an origami crane and looking at the crease pattern and thinking, ‘There are all these nice geometric lines and points. There’s got to be math here,’” recalls Tom Hull, an associate professor of mathematics at Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts. “But I had no clue what it was, because I was 10.” Today, Hull uses origami when he teaches, finding ways to tie it to concepts in calculus, number theory, geometry, and algebra. He says it’s a quick way to engage his students and to help them understand vague concepts in a visual way. In 2006, he published Project Origami, a book filled with activities that teachers can use in math classes. “Kids are so afraid of math. The world is so afraid of math,” Hull says. “But with origami, they’re not thinking, ‘I’m doing this scary math thing,’ they’re just folding paper. It’s a neat way to break the barriers down.” While most advanced origamists turn to math to fold bigger and better models, Massachusetts Institute of Technology associate professor Erik Demaine turned to origami to find more diﬃcult geometric problems to solve. In 1996, Demaine was starting a PhD in computer science at the University of Waterloo in Ontario (he was 15 at the time) and stumbled upon Lang’s work. “I thought, ‘Oh, that sounds cool. Maybe we can do something new.’” Now, Lang and Demaine are working together on a mathematical proof of the tree method of origami design. (Their paper is so long now that they might end up publishing it as a book.) The tree method is the idea that origami models can be thought of as stick figures; for instance, an origami beetle’s body is the trunk, and each leg is a branch. The proof would rule out the possibility that any origami figure could not be made using this method. Lang has released five versions of TreeMaker, a software program that allows origami artists to sketch Guitarist by Robert Lang. Folded from one uncut square of Korean hanji paper, this 6" guitarist will strum his guitar when you pull his head. Praying Mantis by Robert Lang. 4" ﬁgure folded from one uncut square. Irish Elk by Robert Lang. Each year, Lang and fellow composers hold a design challenge at the OrigamiUSA convention. Lang’s 2008 entry, this 9" elk was folded from one uncut square of Korean hanji paper. stick figures and have their computer spit out a crease pattern that they can follow. Separately, Demaine is researching the microbiological applications of origami. He suspects that the principles that govern origami might also dictate how protein molecules fold in our bodies—a process that, when it goes wrong, has been linked to illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. “That would be the endpoint, to predict what nature is doing,” Demaine says. Demaine has three paper sculptures in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, works that he created with his father, visual artist Martin Demaine. In 2003, he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” for computational origami. The $500,000 award cited him for “tackling and solving diﬃcult problems related to folding and bending—moving readily between the theoretical and the playful, with a keen eye to revealing the former in the latter.” “It was more the recognition and acceptance that were meaningful,” Demaine says. “Computational origami was initially a very crazy idea, and yet it has so many practical applications.” Lang, meanwhile, continues to spread the origami way. At a recent lecture at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Lang showed photos of his Black Forest Cuckoo Clock, a tree frog, a Roosevelt elk, and more. Fittingly, the Walters partnered with Baltimore’s Space Telescope Science Institute to bring him to the area. “Relatively few knew I had this secret life,” says Lang of his laser physicist days. “I kept a pretty rigid separation. What’s been kind of fun is when people who I used to work with find my website and they say, ‘I had no idea!’” From The Washington Post, May 11, 2010. ©2010 the Washington Post. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. the printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the Material without express written permission is prohibited. 30 imagine Mar/Apr 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2011

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2011
Contents
Big Picture
In My Own Words
Problem Solving
Orange County Math Circle
Number Theory
Count Me In
National Mathematics Competitions
Math at the Science Fair
Just My Speed
MathPath
When Origami Meets Rocket Science
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Making a Difference
High School Options for Gifted Students
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - March/April 2011