Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 December 18

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December 18

Paper folding man

I'd recently come across a man who invented a certain way of folding a piece of paper. I don't remember who he is, or why this particular paper folding technique was so important/ground breaking. All I remember is that he was probably a mathematician of some sort (not very sure about this though) and the way of folding the paper was this: first you'd make mountain and valley folds along one length of the paper, then you'd make mountain and valley folds orthogonally (by turning the piece of paper by 90 degrees). Can anyone tell me either who this man was or what technique this is called? Thanks in advance. 202.153.41.162 (talk) 13:19, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

Have you tried searching our article Origami for leads? The sub-section 'Origami tessellations' looks as if it might be particularly relevant. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 212.95.237.92 (talk) 13:54, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

Maybe you're thinking of this guy [1] - from a popsci news story in 2008 - guy is a mathematician that works on folding, applications are to airbags, I'm sure you can find more on him with his name - Robert J. Lang. SemanticMantis (talk) 16:27, 18 December 2014 (UTC) p.s. I've removed the double posting of the question below.

You'll want to watch the video Between the Folds which will most likely feature the person you are talking about. Lang is in the video, and you may also be speaking of Erik Demaine. In any case the video covers many present Western cutting edge origamists. μηδείς (talk) 17:05, 18 December 2014 (UTC)

Mathematically, paper-folding is a subset of 2-D manifold manipulation. (A subset because 2-D manifolds may also have curved regions, and loop back on themselves, like a sphere or torus.) StuRat (talk) 21:35, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the help guys. I finally found the fold: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miura_fold. :) I also watched Between the Folds. Loveley documentary. Much thanks again! 202.153.41.162 (talk) 16:31, 22 December 2014 (UTC)