Laser physicist turned origami master Robert J. Lang taught the basics of the ancient paper-folding art to a crowd on Tuesday night in the Main Library.
The group learned to make a duck out of a single piece of paper.
"For a beginner workshop, you have to start with something simple," Lang said. "The Spartan doesn't come until lesson three or four."
Lang will speak at 7:30 p.m. today in the Kellogg Center as part of the McPherson Professorship for the Understanding of Science lecture series. His speech is open to the public.
"I will talk about how the art evolved and found its way into math and science in surprisingly practical ways," Lang said.
Origami can help those in the field of industrial design with products such as space supplies and medical devices that must open once inside the body, Lang said.
"People have developed a lot of different ways of folding large structures small," Lang said. "It is worthwhile for an industrial designer to tap into the knowledge of origami."
It is the chance of a lifetime to learn from Lang, said Jeanne Drewes, assistant director for access and preservation at the Main Library.
Drewes, who has made a hobby out of origami for 10 years, helped to coordinate Lang's visit.
"He looks at something, sees the essence of it and represents the essence with origami," Drewes said. "It's extraordinary."
Both art and science lovers will take something away from the lecture, Drewes said.
"What Lang does is part art, and people interested in the creative side will come away with inspiration," Drewes said. "He's also scientific and has created computations for these designs."
The connection Lang makes between disciplines is what graduate student Laura Marx said drew her to Tuesday's workshop.
"As a science student, it is nice to see someone crossing the boundary between science and art," Marx said. "He doesn't just stay in one realm."
Lang, who holds a doctorate in applied physics from Caltech, quit his engineering career to devote his full attention to origami three years ago.
"As I developed more origami-related activities, I got to the point where I realized there is enough in the world of origami to turn to a full-time career," he said.
Greg Lang, an MSU professor of horticulture and Robert's brother, said his brother's career change to origami was a bit surprising.
"Growing up, I thought it was just kind of a cool thing he learned to make these shapes out of paper," Greg Lang said. "I never thought in my wildest dreams - I don't think he did either - that he would become a nationally known origami artist and he would make a living doing it.
"My interest was seeing how many paper airplanes I could make. He went way beyond that."
