Robert James Lang (born May 4, 1961)[citation needed] is an American physicist who is also one of the foremost origami artists and theorists in the world.

[2] He earned a master's degree in electrical engineering at Stanford University in 1983, and returned to Caltech for a Ph.D. in applied physics, with a dissertation titled Semiconductor Lasers: New Geometries and Spectral Properties.

[4][5] Lang has authored or co-authored over 80 publications on semiconductor lasers, optics, and integrated optoelectronics, and holds 46 patents in these fields.

[4] However, he still maintains ties to his physics background: he was the editor-in-chief of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics from 2007 to 2010, and has done part-time laser consulting for Cypress Semiconductor, among others.

[2] In 1990, Lang first attempted to write computer code that would solve origami problems, and the result was his first version of Tree Maker.

[6] Lang takes full advantage of modern technology in his origami, including using a laser cutter to help score paper for complex folds.