Robert Lang transforms two dimensions into three. This month’s issue of Smithsonian has photos of his cicada, fiddler crab, tarantula. Even a cuckoo clock. Each one made of a single sheet of paper. Some require hundreds of folds. A physicist-mathematician-artist, Lang’s practice of origami is the source of his deep understanding of how the universe works. He’s been folding paper since he was six.

Lang has created computer algorithms that help engineers design the folds for automobile air bags. His work helps engineers design a way to collapse the material of a tremendous telescope (Eyeglass) so that it might be transported into space to view planets outside of our solar system.

In addition to his passion and the beauty of his work, what captivates me is seeing how practicing the most basic forms can blossom into such elegantly complex solutions.