Origami Mathematicians

[Lephantome92]

Are there any well-known origamists who also are important in the ways of math? I'm doing some extra credit in calculus where we just write a report on an important mathematician, and so I'm wondering is there anybody who's influential in both math and origami?

p.s. I don't count Robert Lang; he's more influential in science

[Brimstone]

Erik Demaine maybe? His webpage http://erikdemaine.org/ reads: "I am interested in most areas of research in mathematics and computer science broadly connected to algorithms".

[cjbnc]

Tom Hull: http://mars.wnec.edu/~thull/

or review the schedule for 5OSME last summer for more ideas: http://www.origami-usa.org/5osme

[orislater]

robert lang: http://langorigami.com

[Brimstone]

Or maybe Toshikazu Kawasaki of whom the OUSA page says: "In university he majored in the algebraic theory of numbers, but at the same time he was also studying the geometry of origami. His university degree was based on his work on the theory of Origami Crane variations, and his doctoral thesis was on Tessellations. He is currently a professor at the Anan National College of Technology, in Japan."

[ahudson]

Erik Demaine got a MacArthur Fellowship for his work in Mathematics. He's probably the most well-known origami mathematician, outside of the origami field. If you're interested on the mathematics of folding you should check out his book, Geometric Folding Algorithms, which has some fascinating stuff in it.

[easysid]

I'll say Erik Demaine too. He solved the Fold and Cut problem along with his father. There is a video course available on Geometric Folding Algorithms on his website. Fascinating stuff, and course is pretty advanced too, with some open problems. There is a guest lecture by Jason Ku on the aesthetic and artistic aspects of origami. The rest of course deals with folding in general as in linkages.

Kawasaki, as others suggested, also has a theorem named after him.
And IMHO Dr. Robert Lang is as influential in origami as it gets.