the geometry of paper folding in electronics

Professor Stavros Georgakopoulos holds an origami-infused foldable antenna prototype. Florida International University

When talking about the intersection of art and science, Stavros Georgakopoulos likes to quote Albert Einstein, who once said, "I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"It's absolutely true. If we became engineers and we stuck always to the book, there wouldn't be new breakthroughs," said Georgakopoulos, an electromagnetics specialist and assistant professor in Florida International University's department of electrical and computer engineering.

"Where does imagination come from? Art. Artists don't have any laws, or limits," he added.
It's from this line of thinking that Georgakopoulos is helping transform the field of electrical engineering and electronics design using the mathematical properties of a paper crane. 

The art of origami, he says, is the key to unlocking whole new conceptual modes of thought for scientists.

While folding smartphones into your jacket pocket like the front page of a newspaper is still a futurist fantasy, electronics that compress and change shape are now possible if designed the right way. They're currently in development, aided by Japan's centuries-old paper-folding techniques, an art form that spread worldwide around the mid-1900s.

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Hat tip:  Chila Caldera