Is it art? Or science? Yes.
The ancient Japanese art of paper folding is unfolding new possibilities for modern-day innovation.
By combining inquiry and ingenuity with persistence and patience, a young engineering student at Brigham Young University has discovered an entirely new class of origami design. Not only does this repeating, replicable 鈥渂loom鈥� formation inspire aesthetic awe; it offers multiple applications for science and technology.
Sophomore Zhongyuan Wang, who learned origami as a child in Beijing, and his supervisor, Professor Larry Howell (featured in the Monitor previously), published the discovery in a scientific journal on Wednesday. The unique pattern, made from a single sheet, can be folded flat, then expand radially to 鈥渂loom鈥� like a flower. These features make it highly 鈥渄eployable鈥� in compacted satellite arrays that can then expand in space or in microtechnologies and tools on Earth.
Mr. Wang鈥檚 work and the principles behind it, Dr. Howell says, point to an 鈥渋nfinite number of possibilities.鈥�
鈥淭here are a lot of patterns out there waiting to be discovered,鈥� the article鈥檚 third co-author, mathematical theorist Robert Lang, concurs.
As he experimented with folding and refolding, Mr. Wang told Utah鈥檚 Daily Herald, he felt 鈥渋deas come to my mind 鈥� to reality. ...鈥� These scientists鈥� comments hint at what the founder of this newspaper, Mary Baker Eddy, has referred to as the 鈥渋nexhaustible source鈥� of creation.
Moreover, Dr. Lang told The New York Times that he is struck by the sheer beauty of Mr. Wang鈥檚 creations. 鈥淚 would not be surprised to see that in a museum,鈥� he said of one piece.
That interplay between art and science underscores that innate curiosity and inventiveness are not constrained within traditional academic or theoretical bounds. Some scholars have pointed to a relation between emerging modes of artistic expression and scientific innovation, especially in the first half of the 20th century. They have asked: Did cubism鈥檚 use of multiple vantage points and geometric representations spark new ways in which physicists looked at material objects?
Creativity 鈥渋s an important tool for finding our inner artist in every discipline. ... Every human being is capable of cultivating it,鈥� former BYU music professor Claudine Bigelow told students during a talk several years ago. 鈥淲hat kinds of creativity are you best at? Are you a maker, a thinker, an innovator, or a problem solver?鈥�
Mr. Wang seems to be a little bit of all of those. 鈥淚 love to do origami,鈥� he says in . 鈥淏ut if I can use origami to make practical applications that benefit the world, that will be a dream come true.鈥�
