An endowed lecture series established by the late Professor Emeritus Harry S. Kieval to bring important and renowned speakers to the Humboldt State University campus to deliver a lecture on some popular and/or broad aspect of mathematics which would be attractive to undergraduates and to the public. The lectures are held once each fall and spring.

Spring 2010 Kieval Lecture

Robert J. Lang

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

"From Flapping Birds to Space Telescopes: The Modern Science of Origami"

at 7:30 PM, Van Duzer Theater

The last decade of this past century has been witness to a revolution in the development and application of mathematical techniques to origami, the centuries-old Japanese art of paper-folding. The techniques used in mathematical origami design range from the abstruse to the highly approachable. In this talk, I will describe 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, some of which you’ll see, too. As often happens in mathematics, theory originally developed for its own sake has led to some surprising practical applications. The algorithms and theorems of origami design have shed light on long-standing mathematical questions and have solved practical engineering problems. I will discuss examples of how origami has enabled safer airbags, Brobdingnagian space telescopes, and more.

Robert J. Lang is recognized as one of the foremost origami artists in the world as well as a pioneer in computational origami and the development of formal design algorithms for folding. With a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Caltech, he has, during the course of work at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Spectra Diode Laboratories, and JDS Uniphase, authored or co-authored over 80 papers and 45 patents in lasers and optoelectronics as well as authoring, co-authoring, or editing 9 books and a CD-ROM on origami. He is a full-time artist and consultant on origami and its applications to engineering problems but moonlights as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. http://www.langorigami.com

 

This is a link to the HSU library video records of the Kieval Lectures.

Previous lecturers in this series have included:

  • Ken Golden, (details)Fall 2010 (University of Utah)
  • Tony DeRose, (details)Spring 2009 (Pixar Studios)
  • Underwood Dudley, (details) Fall 2008 (DePauw University)
  • Don Albers, (details) Spring 2008 (Mathematical Association of America Books)
  • C. Edward Sandifer, (details) Fall 2007 (Western Connecticut State University)
  • Melanie Wood, (details), Spring 2007 (Princeton University)
  • Jerald Marsden, ( ), Fall 2006 (California Institute of Technology)
  • Deborah Ball, (details) , Spring 2006 (University of Michigan)
  • Majorie Senechal, (details), Fall 2005 (Smith College)
  • Joe Gallian, (details), Spring 2005 (University of Minnesota Duluth)
  • Jennifer Quinn, (details), Fall 2004 (Occidental College)
  • John Conway, (details), Spring 2004 (Princeton University)
  • Persi Diaconis (details), Fall 2003, (Stanford University)
  • Hyman Bass (details) ,Spring 2003 (U. of Michigan)
  • Ann E.Watkins  (details),Fall, 2002(CSU Northridge)
  • Ed Burger  (details), Spring, 2002 (Williams  College)
  • Michael E. Moody  (details ) Fall, 2001 (Harvey Mudd College)
  • Richard Tapia (details) Spring, 2001 ( Rice University)
  • Noam D. Elkies (details) Fall, 2000 (Harvard University)
  • Victor Katz (details) Spring, 2000 (University of the District of Columbia)
  • Arthur Benjamin (details) Fall, 1999 (Harvey Mudd College)
  • Thomas Banchoff (details)Spring, 1999 (Brown University)
  • Frank Giordano (details)  Fall, 1998 (COMAP)
  • Robert L. Devaney (Details) Spring, 1998 (Boston University)
  • Sherman Stein Fall, 1997 (UC Davis)
  • Ron Graham (Details ) Spring, 1997
  • David Hoffman Fall, 1996 (MSRI, Berkeley)
  • Doris Schattschneider Spring, 1996 (Moravian College)
  • Herbert Keller Fall, 1995 (Cal. Inst. of Technology)
  • Keith J. Devlin Spring, 1995 (Saint Mary's College)
  • Deb Hughes Hallett (Harvard) and Jerry Uhl  (U of Ill.) Fall, 1994
  • Gil Strang Spring, 1994 (MIT)
  • Carlos Castillo-Chavez Fall, 1993 (Cornell)
  • Judith Grabiner Spring, 1993 (Pitzer College).
  • Judith Tanur Fall, 1992 (SUNY, Stony Brook)
  • Margaret Cozzins Spring, 1992 (Northeastern U.)
  • Saunders MacLane Fall, 1991 (Univ. of Chicago)
  • Branko Grunbaum Spring, 1991 (Univ. of Washington)
  • Robert Moses Fall, 1990
  • George Dantzig Spring, 1990 (Stanford Univ.) 
  • Reuben Hersh Fall, 1989 (Univ. of NM)
  • Ralph Boas Spring, 1989 (Northwestern Univ.)
  • Leon Henkin Fall, 1988 (U.C., Berk.)
  • Mary Ellen Rudin Spring, 1988(Univ. of Wisconsin)
  • Constance Reid Fall, 1987
  • Kenneth Arrow Spring, 1987 (Stanford Univ.)
  • Peter Hilton Fall, 1986 (SUNY, Binghamton)
  • Gerard Debreu Spring, 1986 (U.C.,Berk.)
  • Raymond Smullyan Fall, 1985 (Ind. U.)
  • Paul Halmos Spring, 1985 (Univ.of Santa Clara)
  • Richard Hamming Winter, 1985 (Naval Postgrad.)
  • Victor Klee Spring, 1984 (Univ. of Washington)
  • Ivan Niven Fall, 1983 (Univ. of Oregon)
  • Ronald Graham Spring, 1983 (Bell Labs)