Folding Hands

He was a laser physicist at NASA, then cheif scientist and vice president of research & development for a firm in Silicone Valley. In 2001, he gave it all up to fold paper. That is, the Japanese art of origami, or paper folding. Robert J. Lang is considered an origami master, and has written what is considered to be the origami bible. He has made a rattlesnake with 1,500 scales. He mostly uses one sheet of paper, with no cutting, taping, or gluing. He became fascinated with it at age six, and says one reason he loves it is because you never run out of possibilities. But he is not just a retired paper folder. He has written many books and gives lectures. He has designed commercials for McDonald's, Toyota, and others. He has made models of how to fold air bags for car companies, and designed stents which are put in coronary arteries. They need to be very tiny, yet pop open. He believes that the same principles that govern origami might also dictate how protein molecules fold in our bodies. When these mess up, it is linked to Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's disease. He says "Things that we do for fun...have practical applications...origami might save a life." And somehow, I think that if anyone can do it, he can. All my pictures here are from the web.

"From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today." Isaiah 48:6,7