Difference between revisions of "Buckminster Fuller" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
(Rough Draft)
Line 5: Line 5:
 
RICHARD BUCKMINSTER FULLER
 
RICHARD BUCKMINSTER FULLER
  
 +
5490 words including Uni Aspects, but not bibliography
  
−
INTRODUCTION
+
==INTRODUCTION==
  
−
richard buckminster (bucky) fuller's early childhood was filled with patterns, until his family realized he was near-sighted and fitted him with glasses. his pursuit of patterns continued throughout his life. one day while watching bubbles he realized that nature doesn't use Pi to create spheres. this began his search for nature's coordinate system, and mankind's role in the universe. his broad brush-stroke view of history revealed the increasing significance of mind-power over muscle-power. often thought of as an eccentric utopian, fuller's stream of writings and inventions documented his belief that every human being could comprehend the workings of the universe and continue the creative work begun by God. he claimed to be a verb, and predicted a one world family.  
+
One of the most powerful influences on R. Buckminster Fuller was a pair of glasses he got as he was entering kindergarten in 1900. They were to become his trademark.
  
−
He was primarily an architect. But was also a critic of the way society has been organized since the time of the Phoencians. And worked tirelessly to change global society through design science. the invitations, awards, and appointments which followed him through all the days of his adult life were not the result of self-promotion, but came as the result of his work.
+
In 1927 he contemplated suicide, but at the last minute decided to re-think everything he had ever been taught to believe, dedicated himself to serving mankind, and began a complete inventory of world resources.
  
 +
In the 1940s he recognized the emergence of an invisible reality which could be perceived only by the mind. In the 1970s Fuller realized that it was now possible to provide a very high standard of living for all mankind, making resource-wars obsolete.
  
  
−
=========
+
__TOC__
  
−
BIOGRAPHY
 
  
−
It is impossible to isolate a person from the times they lived, as particularly demonstrated by the life of bucky fuller. He saw unprecidented developments as he traveled through time and space for 88 years.
+
==BIOGRAPHY==
  
−
Born July 12, 1895 naked and helpless (and very near-sighted); totally dependent on his family, (R B Fuller and Caroline Wolcott Andrews; and relatives), which depended on what the world had to offer at that time in Milton, Massachusetts, with no expection that his lifetime would see mankind go from horse and buggy to walking on the Moon.  
+
Richard Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller, (July 12, 1895 - July 1, 1983), was an American-born architect who worked and taught all around the planet. He popularized the term 'synergy', wrote over 21 books, and was granted 28 US patents. He wrote and lectured on the nature of the Universe, the role of human beings, history, and corporations. His life is considered to be the most documented in history.  
  
−
Entering kindergarten in 1899 his most vivid memory was welcoming in the new century with his first pair of corrective lens (which later became his trademark).
+
Up to the age of four Fuller didn't realize that the patterns he had grown accustomed to were the result of near-sightedness until his family realized the situation and fitted him with correctve lenses. His most vivid childhood memory was welcoming in the new century with his first pair glasses. His pursuit of the patterns he found in nature continued throughout his life. His search for nature's coordinate system, and mankind's role in the universe began while he watched bubbles and realized that nature doesn't use [[Pi]] to create spheres.
  
−
The first decade of the 1900s was similar to the life of any child growing up on the family farm on Bear Island, off the coast of Maine; elementary school, family influences —especially his uncle Waldo, living on Bear Island, Maine; attending Milton Academy upper school. Fuller began keeping a journal when he was 12, which he later renamed the 'chronofile'. His father [RBF...] had a stroke and died in 1910.  
+
Often thought of as an eccentric utopian, Fuller was a critic of the way society had been organized since the time of the [[Phoencians]]. His view of history revealed the increasing significance of mind-power over muscle-power. He claimed to be a verb, predicted a one world family, and claimed that every human being could comprehend the [[generalized principles]] of the universe and continue the creative work begun by God.
  
−
During the second decade he continues his education, graduating from Milton Academy in 1913 and entered Harvard (Class of 1917). But is expelled in 1914, and decides to get a cotton mill job in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada; then re-enter Harvard —but in 1915 he is expelled again. This time he goes to New York city and gets a grueling 12 hour a day job at the Armour meat packing company.
+
The invitations, awards, and appointments which followed him through all the days of his adult life were not the result of self-promotion, but came because others recognized the value of his [[design science]] work.
  
−
1916 began fuller's military career; entering a US military training camp in Plattsburg, NY as a corporal. A year later he joins the US Naval Reserve and marries [...] on his birthday. [Alexandra—first daughter born?] In 1918 he is assigned to a short special course at Annapolis, and a year later is temporarily assigned to the USS George Washington, then to another special course at Annapolis. Promoted to Lt. USN, he his assigned to the Atlantic war zone on troop transport duty as a personal aide for secret information to Admiral Albert Gleaves. He also saw service on the USS Great Northern and USS Seattle.
+
Born to R B Fuller and Caroline Wolcott Andrews in Milton, Massachusetts, Bucky grew up on the family farm off the coast of [[Maine on Bear Island]]. He had no expection that in his lifetime mankind would go from horse and buggy to walking on the Moon.  
  
−
Fuller had direct experience with Naval prognostication — [...]-- which shaped his thinking about the Universe. But on November 1, 1919 he resigns from the Navy when his Admiral is assigned to commander in chief of the [Asiatic fleet] and his daughter, Alexandra, gets sick.
+
Relatives who influenced his thinking during the first decade of the 1900s included his great aunt [[Margaret Fuller Assoli]] (who, with Ralph Waldo Emerson co-edited the Transcendentalist magazine — the Dial, were the first to publish [[Thoreau]], and was author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century), and his uncle, [[Waldo Fuller]] (...}. After elementary school, he attended Milton Academy upper school.  
  
−
The beginning of the 1920s saw Fuller again working for Armour and Company, but this time as an assistant export manager in their NYC headquarters. But in 1921 he resigns from Armour to become a national account sales manager with the Kelly-Springfield truck company in NYC.
+
Fuller, inspired by [[Robert Burns]], began keeping a journal when he was 12 years old, [1907], in the hopes of seeing himself as others saw him, and getting a glimpse of his "comprehensively integrated self". He later renamed his journal the Chronofile. His father, Richard, one of several generations of Harvard-educated Fullers, had a stroke that year and died three years later.  
  
−
The following year he resigns from Kelly-Springfield to start a career as an 'independent enterpriser' and joins his father-in-law [...] in developing stockade blocks (the Stockade Building System) and built light-weight, weatherproof, and fireproof houses. That year saw Alexandra die of complications from polio and spinal meningitis
+
During the second decade of the 20th century Fuller continued his education, graduating from Milton Academy in 1913 and followed in the footsteps of his father's family by enrolling at Harvard (as a member of the Class of 1917). But Bucky was expelled a year later. He moved to Quebec, Canada and worked at a cotton mill until given a second chance at Harvard. A year later he was expelled again. This time he went to New York city and got a 12 hour a day job with the Armour meat packing company.
  
−
Four years later, in 1926, after not making any money building houses, Fuller resigns as presidnet of Stockade.  
+
Fuller's short military career began in 1916, (two years after the beginning of WWI), when he entered the US military training camp in Plattsburg, NY, as a corporal. A year later he joined the US Naval Reserve, and married Anne Hewlett on his birthday. Their first daughter, Alexandra was born in 1918. That same year, he was assigned to a short special course at [[Annapolis]], and a year later was temporarily assigned to the USS George Washington, then to another special course at Annapolis. Promoted to Lt. USN, he was assigned to troop transport duty as a personal aide to [[Admiral Albert Gleaves]]. He also saw service on the USS Great Northern and USS Seattle.
  
−
1927 was a pivotal year for Fuller. His second daughter [...] had been born. But he was jobless, broke, and had no prospects for the future. At [32] he determined that his life was a failure, and contemplated suicide.  
+
The Navy provided much food for Fuller's thoughts about history and the Universe. But on November 1, 1919 he resigned when Gleaves was assigned as commander in chief of the [Asiatic fleet], and his daughter, Alexandra, got sick.
  
−
On the pier [which ny river] he nearly threw himself into the icy waters. But decided to embark on an unpresidented 'experiment' to see what one person could do to benefit mankind.  And got serious about air-deliverable 'dwelling machines'.
+
The beginning of the 1920s saw Fuller again working for Armour and Company, this time as an assistant export manager in their NYC headquarters. But in 1921 he resigned to become a national account sales manager with the Kelly-Springfield truck company, also in NYC.
  
−
He publishes his first book, 4-D, and founds a research and development company also called 4-D. He develops his energetic/synergetic geometry; invents a 'dymaxion' dwelling machine as part of his concept of air-deliverable, mass-producable houses based on anticipatory design science.
+
The following year he resigned from Kelly-Springfield to start a career as an 'independent enterpriser' and joined with his father-in-law in developing the Stockade Building System, and built light-weight, weatherproof, and fireproof houses. That year saw Alexandra die of complications from polio and spinal meningitis. Four years later, in 1926, after not making any money building houses, Fuller resigned as president of Stockade.  
  
−
In 1929 Fuller spent time at Romany Marie's Tavern in Greenwich Village, eating dinner and discussing his ideas.
+
Believing that his was a "throwaway life" at 32, (1927), Fuller contemplated suicide. Standing on a river pier, he nearly threw himself into the water. But, instead, decided to do his own thinking for the first time in his life, and embarked on an 'experiment' to see what one person in his situation could do to benefit mankind.  
  
−
In 1930 Fuller goes to Philadelphia, sells his navy life insurance policy to finance the purchase of T-Square magazine and changes the name to Shelter. But two years later the magazine folds. The closing may have been a strategic move on Fuller's part, because Fortune magazine publishes on article on the housing industry, citing the Dymaxion dwelling machine as the prototype of a new mass production housing industry. But the expected increase in orders doesn't come.
+
===NEW BEGINNING===
  
−
Two years later [his mother] dies.
+
Fuller got serious about housing, and published his first book, 4-D Timelock, established a research and development company, and began developing his [[energetic/synergetic geometry]]. During this time he invented a [["dymaxion dwelling machine"]] as part of his concept of air-deliverable, mass-producable houses based on anticipatory design science.
  
−
In 1936 Fuller moves back to NYC and is involved with experimental television broadcasts by CBS. Two years later he joins the staff of Fortune magazine as its science and technology consultant.
+
In 1929 Fuller was a regular at [[Romany Marie's Tavern]] in Greenwich Village, NY, eating dinner with associates and discussing the development of his ideas.
  
−
The 1940s saw Fuller come into his element as the 'invisible world' begins to emerge. [...] And he begins an informal relationship with the US government.
+
The 1930s saw Fuller buy, and later close, a magazine in Philadelphia, at about the same time he was featured in a Fortune magazine article on the housing industry. His mother, Caroline, passed away during this time, and he got involved with experimental television broadcasts at CBS studios; and then became the science and technology consultant for [[Fortune]] magazine.
  
−
In 1940 Fuller leaves Fortune magazine and starts the deployment unit of the Butler Manufacturing Company in Kansas City. [Butler manufactured metal buildings used as radar shacks and dorms for US flyers and mechanics.]
+
As he pursued his research and development activities in the 1940s, Fuller entered his element when he realized that an 'invisible world' based on technological know-how, was beginning to emerge and reshape the world. At this time Fuller began an informal, but long-term, relationship with the US government.
  
−
Two years later Fuller joins the US Board of Economic Warfare as its head mechanical engineer in Wahington, DC. And in 1944 he becomes a special assistant to the Deputy Director of the US Foreign Economic Administration.  
+
In 1940 Fuller left Fortune magazine and started the deployment unit of the [[Butler Manufacturing Company]] in Kansas City. (Butler manufactured metal buildings used as radar shacks and dorms for US flyers and mechanics.)
  
−
Until 1946 Fuller lived in Wichita, Kansas, where he, as chief design engineer, produced a prototype of the Dymaxion house under the auspices of a coalition of labor, private, and government organizations. Also in '46 Fuller is awarded the first catographic projection patent ever granted by the US Patent Office for his Dymaxion map of the world. [...]
+
Two years later Fuller joined the US [[Board of Economic Warfare]] as its head mechanical engineer in Washington, DC. And in 1944 he became a special assistant to the Deputy Director of the US [[Foreign Economic Administration]].  
  
−
The following year Fuller invents the geodesic dome (patented in 1954), the first building that could sustain its own weight with no practical limits; and becomes a professor at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. And in 1948 he returns to Massachusetts in a position at MIT, while teaching summer sessions at Black Mountain where he becomes a dean ('49). He also gets involved with the Chicago Institute of Design and a visiting lecturer at MIT.
+
Until 1946 Fuller lived in Wichita, Kansas, where he, as chief design engineer, produced a prototype of the Dymaxion house under the auspices of a coalition of labor, private, and government organizations. Also in '46 Fuller was awarded the first cartographic projection patent ever granted by the US Patent Office for his Dymaxion map of the world. The map can be configured to show the Earth as either a one ocean planet or as a one island planet, without distorting the size of the continents. [[mapimage.jpgpipethumbpipecaption]]
  
−
The 1950s saw Fuller's teaching schedule begin to increase, his geometry begins to be recognized by the scientific community, and he recieves his first major award.
+
The following year Fuller invented the [[geodesic dome]] (add image) — it was the first building that could sustain its own weight with no practical limits; and became a professor at [[Black Mountain College]] in North Carolina, which was his first academic appointment. In 1948 he returned to Massachusetts as a visiting lecturer at [[MIT]] while teaching summer sessions at Black Mountain where he became a dean ('49). He also got involved with the [[Chicago Institute of Design]].
  
−
In 1950 his invited university appointments and lectures included MIT, North Carolina State University, and the University of Michigan. In 1951 Fuller points out the similarities between the DNA helix and his tetrahelix model.
+
===THE BEGINNING OF INCREASED ACTIVITY===
  
−
After the geodesic dome is patented (in '54), the US Marines begin using the domes for airlifted housing. Meanwhile, the work of Thomas Malthus is discredited as [governments] acknowledge that Malthus was wrong ('55).
+
The 1950s saw Fuller's academic schedule begin to increase; his geometry began to be recognized by the scientific community, and he recieved his first major award. In 1951 Fuller pointed out the similarities between the DNA helix and his tetrahelix model. [images of dna and tetrahelix]
  
−
In 1956 Fuller begins a long-term relationship with Southern Illinois University -Carbondale, with his first visiting lecturer appointment. [...] Two years later, as he is making his first complete circuit of the Earth in the fulfillment of regular university appointments around the globe, Fuller's geometry is discovered to explain nature's fundamental structuring at the atomic and virus levels by nuclear physicists and molecular biologists. And he his awarded the Gold Medal, Scarab by the National Architectural Society.
+
After the geodesic dome was patented in 1954, the US Marines began using the domes for air-lifted housing. Meanwhile, the work of [[Thomas Malthus]] is discredited as the [[UN Food and Agriculture Organization]] acknowledges that Malthus was wrong ('55). [image of dome]
  
−
And in 1959 he is appointed by the State Department to visit Russia (USSR) as a representative of engineering in a protocol exchange. His is also appointed as a research professor at SIU and is awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree.
+
In 1956 Fuller began a long-term relationship with [[Southern Illinois University at Carbondale]], with his first visiting lecturer appointment there. Two years later, as he is making his first complete circuit of the Earth in the fulfillment of regular university appointments, Fuller's geometry is found to explain nature's fundamental structuring at the atomic and virus levels by nuclear physicists and molecular biologists. And he is awarded a Gold Medal by the [[National Architectural Society]].
  
−
By 1961 over 2,000 geodesic domes had been produced by over 100 industrial corporations, delivered prmarily by air and installed in 40 countries and in the north and south pole zones. He also finds a platfrom to propose initiating phase 1 of a Design Science Decade at [...].
+
And in 1959 he was appointed by the State Department as an engineering representative to Russia (USSR) in a protocol exchange. He is also appointed as a research professor at SIU and is awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree that year.
  
−
In a strange twist of irony Fuller recieves a one-year ('62) appointment as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard. This begins the rehabilitation of Fuller's Harvard years.
+
By 1961 over 2,000 geodesic domes had been produced by over 100 industrial corporations, delivered primarily by air, and installed in 40 countries as well in both polar zones.  
  
−
1962 also began the Houston Astrodome debacal. [...]
+
In a strange twist of irony, Fuller recieves a one-year ('62) appointment as the [[Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry]] at Harvard. This begins the rehabilitation of Fuller's Harvard years.
  
−
In 1963 Fuller's formula of frequency [...] is leads to the finding of virus protein shells. He publishes four book; and begins involvement with Doxiadis' Delos Symposium as a member and speaker on the Design Science Decade. [...]
+
1962 also began the [[Houston Astrodome]] debachal(sp) in which Fuller did all the prepatory research for the project, but at the last minute the project was given to another company to be built.  
  
−
In 1965 Fuller inaugurated the World Design Science Decade (1965 to 1975) at the meeting of the International Union of Architects in Paris.
+
In 1963 Fuller's formula of frequency leads to the finding of virus protein shells. [[see reference org in crit path]]. He publishes four books; and begins involvement with Doxiadis' Delos Symposium as a member and speaker.  
  
−
In 1966 he initiates the World Game at SIU; and lectures on spinoffs from space technology. [...]
+
In 1965 Fuller inaugurated the [[World Design Science Decade]] (1965 to 1975) at the meeting of the International Union of Architects in Paris, France. A year later he initiates the World Game at SIU; and lectures scientists and engineers on the commercial spinoffs from space technology at Cape Kennedy (Kennedy Space Center).  
  
−
In 1967, in the ultimate step toward rehabilitation, the Harvard Class of 1917 inducts Fuller into Phi Beta Kappa during their 50th reunion. Meanwhile, HUD commissions Fuller to research a tetrahedronal floating city project, as he fulfills an appointment as the Harvey Cushing Orator at the congress of the American Association of Neuro-Surgeons' annual meeting in Chicago. He explained the difference between the human brain and the mind to the 2,000 members of the organization.
+
In 1967, in the ultimate step toward rehabilitation, the Harvard Class of 1917 inducts Fuller into [[Phi Beta Kappa]] during their 50th reunion. Meanwhile, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) commissions him to research a [[tetrahedronal floating city]] project, as he fulfills an appointment as the [[Harvey Cushing Orator]] at the Congress of the American Association of Neuro-Surgeons' annual meeting in Chicago. He explained the difference between the human brain and the mind to the 2,000 members of the organization.
  
 
In 1968, those who read Playboy magazine for the articles, read Fuller's article on The City of the Future.
 
In 1968, those who read Playboy magazine for the articles, read Fuller's article on The City of the Future.
  
−
The following year, Fuller led the first public World Game workshop in New York state; and testifies on the World Game before the US Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations at the invitation of the Chairman, Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine. Then Fuller went to India to lecture on planetary planning [...].
+
The following year, Fuller led the first public [[World Game]] workshop (in New York state); and testifies on the World Game before the US [[Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations]] at the invitation of the Chairman, Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine. Then Fuller went to India to lecture on [[planetary planning]].
  
−
After being cited as Humanist of the Year, Fuller becomes the Hoyt Fellow at Yale, and recieves a Citation of Merit from HUD. And received a Sc.D. from Bates College.
+
After being cited as Humanist of the Year, Fuller becomes the [[Hoyt Fellow]] at Yale, and recieves a Citation of Merit from HUD.
  
−
Among all his other projects, Fuller was an amature historian who produced an interesting view of the past. In 1970 his view of pre-history was supported by archeological discoveries, and he was awarded a stone axe in recognition of this work. In the meantime, his book I Seem to be a Verb is published by Bantam, and is installed as Master Architect for Life by the national chapter of the Alpha Rho Chi fraternity.
+
Among all his other projects, Fuller was an amature(sp) historian who produced an interesting view of the past based on oceanic trade routes. In 1970 his view of pre-history was supported by archeological discoveries, and he was awarded Stone Age axes from Austrailia and Finland in recognition of this work. In the meantime, his book 'I Seem to be a Verb' is published by Bantam, and he is installed as Master Architect for Life by the national chapter of the [[Alpha Rho Chi]] fraternity.
  
−
In an unprecidented move, the New York Times prints Fuller's telegram to Senator Edmund Muskie; it fills the entire OpEd page, in 1971.
+
In an unprecedented move, in 1971, the New York Times printed Fuller's telegram to Senator Edmund Muskie — it filled the [[entire OpEd page]].
  
−
In 1972 the special 40th anniversary issue of Architectrual Forum, and England's Architectural Design magazines devote issues to Fuller's work; and Playboy interviews him.
+
In 1972 the special 40th anniversary issue of [[Architectrual Forum]], and England's [[Architectural Design]] magazines were devoted to Fuller's work; and Playboy interviewed him.
  
−
Fuller continues to recieve an ever-increasing number of awards and honors.
+
Fuller continued to recieve an ever-increasing number of awards and honors. In 1974, during his 37th complete circuit of Earth in fulfillment of invitations and academic responsibilities, Fuller gives 150 major addresses. Meanwhile, the Club of Rome reintroduces the ideas of Thomas Malthus within their [[Limits to Growth]] report.
−
+
 
−
During his 37th complete circuit of Earth, (in fulfillment of invitations and academic responsibilities), Fuller gives 150 major addresses during 1974. Meanwhile, the Club of Rome reintroduces the ideas of Thomas Malthus with their Limits to Growth report.  
+
The following year Fuller publishes [[Synergetics]], (the result of his 50 years of work on what he claimed to be nature's geometric coordinate system). The book contains an introduction and article by Harvard mathematician [[Arthur Loeb]], who warns that that the book would restimulate wide-spread interest in geometry.
  
−
The following year Fuller publishes Synergetics. It is the result of his 50 years of work on nature's coordinate system. The book contains an introduction and article by Harvard mathematician Arthur Loeb.  
+
While Synergetics is hitting the bookstores, Fuller is named Professor Emeritus at SIU and the University of Pennsylvania; makes his 39th circuit of Earth, and testifies before the US [[Senate Committee on Foreign Relations]].
  
−
While Synergetics is hitting the bookstores, Fuller is named Professor Emeritus at SIU and the University of Pennsylvania, makes his 39th circuit of Earth, and testifies before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
+
In 1976 Fuller creates the [[Jitterbug sculture]] —demonstrating fourth dimensional wave generation. He testifies at the US House hearing on the [[recovery of the city]], and speaks at [[Habitat]]: the UN conference on Human Settlements, in Vancouver BC Canada.
  
−
In 1976 Fuller creates the Jitterbug sculpure —representing fourth dimensional space [...]; testifies at the US House hearing on the recovery of the city, and speaks at Habitat: the UN conference on Human Settlements in Vancouver BC Canada.
+
In '77 Fuller was the first witness at the US [[Senate Select Committee on Small Business]] hearings on alternate energy, then left on a Far East lecture tour sponsored by the State Department and the US Information Agency; he also writes an article, [[50 Years Ahead of My Time]], for the Saturday Evening Post.
  
−
In '77 Fuller was the first witness at the US Senate Select Committee on Small Business hearings on alternate energy, then leaves on a lecture tour sponsored by the State Department and the US Information Agency; and writes an article, 50 Years Ahead of My Time for the Saturday Evening Post.
+
In '78 he testifies before the US [[Senate Foreign Relations Committe]] and describes using satellites to take daily inventories of everything from world resources to global public opinion polls. And then appears on Will Durant's NBC television series, [[Lessons of History]].
  
−
In '78 he testifies before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committe and describes using satellites to take daily inventories of everything from world resources to world-wide public opinion polls. Then appears on Will Durant's NBC television series, Lessons of History.
+
The last year of the 70s found Fuller in NYC with EST founder Werner Erhart(sp). They presented their views of the world at the [[Radio City Music Hall]] before 6,000 people. Erhart made the startling statement that he never considered principles to be important until he met Fuller.
  
−
The last year of the 70s found Fuller in NYC with EST founder Werner Erhart. They presented their views of the world at the Radio City Music Hall before 6,000 people. Erhart made the startling statement that he never considered principles to be important until he met Fuller.
+
Fuller made an equally startling statement, which reflected his life-long concern about the continued existence of the human race. He said to the audience: "To be optimistic about the future you have to know a lot. But to be pessimistic about the future you don't have to know nothing." When asked by a reporter how could one learn what he knows, Fuller simply answered: "Read my books".
  
−
Fuller made an equally startling statement, which reflected his live-long concern about the continued existence of the human race. He said: 'To be positive about the future you have to know a lot. To be negative about the future you don't have to know nothing.'
+
The last few years of his life demonstrated his dedication to the fate of mankind. In 1980 he traveled to Brazil to view the implementation of [[industrialization strategies]] he first described in 1942; was appointed to a [[Presidential Commission]] to follow up the Carter-commissioned Global 2000 Report, (which was based on the Limits to Growth report); and was appointed to a [[congressional committee on the future]].
  
−
When asked by a reporter how could one learn what he knows, he simply answered: 'Read my books'.
+
1980 also saw the issue of the Robert Grip-Christopher Kitrick edition of Fuller's Dymaxion sky-ocean world map, which was acknowledged as the largest, most accurate, whole Earth map in history.
  
−
Synergetics 2, containing collateral materials and an aplification of Synergetics, was published in 1979.
+
His books, Critical Path (1981) and [[Grunch of Giants]] (1983), are easily accessable overviews of his life's work. But 1983 also saw his wife, Anne, dying of cancer. On July 1st, Buckminster Fuller passed away, and Anne slipped away hours later. He is buried in [[Mount Auburn Cemetery]] near Boston, Massachusetts, after completing almost 50 circuits of the planet.
  
−
The last few years of his life demonstrated his dedication to the fate of mankind. In 1980 he traveled to Brazil to view the implementaiton of the industrialization strategies he first described in 1942 [...]; was appointed to a Presidential Commission to follow up the Carter-commissioned Global 2000 Report (which was based on the Limits to Growth report); and was appointed to a congressional committee on the future.
+
==PHILOSOPHY/WORLD VIEW==
  
−
1980 also saw the issue of the Robert Grip-Christopher Kitrick edition of Fuller's Dymaxion sky-ocean world map; acknowledged as the largest, most accurate whole Earth map in history.
 
  
 +
It is easy to classify Fuller as a [[Natural Philosopher]], (drawing insights from nature with no supernatural intervention). But he was also a [[metaphysician]], (pointing to the essential role of the invisible reality). He always emphasized that he was an average person who had done nothing anyone else couldn't do.
  
−
The final 1,000 days of his life saw the publication of Critical Path (1981) and Grunch of Giants (1983); his wife [...] in a coma, dying of cancer; his death on July 1, 1983 and [his wife's] a day and a half later. He is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston, Massachusetts
+
===SELF DISCIPLINES===
 +
The most easily-accessable presentation of Fuller's philosophy and worldview comes from Critical Path in a review of a set of "self disciplines" which he imposed upon himself and used to guide his life.
  
−
2095 words
+
In his early days, Fuller followed the guidance of his elders (parents and relatives) who always said, in effect, 'Darling, never mind what you think. Listen. We are trying to teach you.'
  
−
================
+
He also encountered an important piece of advice from his grandmother who revealed to him the Golden Rule: 'Love thy neighbor as thyself — do unto others as you would they should do unto you.'
−
PHILOSOPHY/WORLD VIEW
 
  
 +
But as he got older his uncles gave him the facts of life, which was the standard belief system of most people during the 19th and 20th centuries. 'Life is hard', they told him in so many words. 'There is nowhere nearly enough life support for everybody on our planet, let alone enough for a comfortable life. If you want to raise a family and have a comfortable life for them, you are going to have to deprive others of the opportunity to survive, and the sooner the better.' This was an idea which may as well have come from the mouths of Thomas Malthus, [[Charles Darwin]], and [[Herbert Spencer]]. His uncles told him that 'Your grandmother's Golden Rule is beautiful, but it doesn't work.'
 +
 +
Knowing that his family loved him, Fuller trained himself to ignore his own thinking and learned the 'game of life' as taught by others.
  
−
---
+
As a line officer in the US Navy, (1917 at 22), he renamed his journal the Chronofile to document his success in the world. But after leaving the Navy he realized that he was a "spontaneous failure" when it came to the business world. At the age of 32 he decided to use himself in a life-long "experiment" which he called the Evolution of Guinea Pig B (B for Buckminster).  
−
Bucky's philosophy and world view are pretty simple. In order to avoid the obliteration of the human race each individual needs to know they have direct access to the generalized mind of God.
 
  
−
He begins with the entire universe and works his way to solutions to specific problems. This is how he approached every problem, including his struggle with suicide.  
+
Instead of committing his efforts to the exclusive benefit of himself, his family, or his country, Fuller decided to commit all his productive protential to seeing "what a healthy young male human of average size, experience, and capabilities with a dependent wife and newborn child, with no money, credit, or university degree, could effectively do to lastingly improve the physical protection and support of all human lives, while at the same time removing undesirable restraints and improving individual initiatives of any and all humans."
  
−
He didn't arrive at this strategy on his own, but it's not clear what was the result of his near-sightedness, his family's Unitarian Universalist religious influences, or his stint in the Navy. But it's clear that he didn't learn it at Harvard. But there is evidence of eastern influence (I-not I) and 'acceptance'. By the same token, there is evidence of 'doing one's own thinking' and individual initiative.
+
This required a comprehensive and integrated view of the world --the entire planet and all its resources, and the cumulative, metaphysical know-how of humanity.
  
−
The essential part of his philosophy was finding the role of humans in the Universe. But first he had to define 'Universe'.
+
Since it was obvious that no one had pursued such a course in the past, Fuller was forced by circumstance to do his own thinking about how to proceed with the "experiment". So he confined his thoughts to experientially gained information, and to the products of his own thinking and intuitions. This was in order to be true to himself, instead of trying to accommodate everyone else's opinions as he had previously done.
  
−
Simply stated, 'Universe' is everything a person can be aware of, which includes the expanding set of Generalized Principles which makes it possible for the Universe to be eternally regenerate itself. The next step is to disregard what is not relevant until only the pertinate elements remain. Then experiment with those until a precise solution presents itself.  
+
Another of his "self discipines" was to commit himself to not taking advantage of others or putting them at a disadvantage. And he had to demonstrate that his goals could only be accomplished through his work and not through social reform.
  
−
In order to pursue this philosophy, an accurate definition of 'Universe' has to be developed; and then an accurate definition of 'man' had to be developed. Technically speaking, according to Fuller, the Universe is [...] and human beings are [...].
+
But the data and devices he produced had to be so effective that they would result in a more desirable life-style and be "spontaneously adopted" by all mankind. The only catch was that he wouldn't talk about any of his inventions until they had been proven or disproven.
  
−
In informal terms, human beings are the children of God.
+
Along this line, Fuller never tried to persuade people to alter their customs and viewpoints by promoting his ideas or, through agents, promoting his work. All support had to come spontaneously, in accord with the evolution of human affairs at nature's own pace.
  
−
With these two definitions in mind, Fuller looked at history and the Phoenicians/Vikings/merchants of Venice popped-out. And from there a Grunch of Giants appeared. What also appeared was a long-term divide-and-conquer, us-against-them struggle which caused no end of trouble and which pushes mankind toward oblivion. He circumvents the issue of 'good and evil' in the same way St. Paul did when he asserted that all things are good, but not all things are expedient. [book/verse]
+
But he sought to develop his "artifacts" with enough time margins so they would be ready for use by society when society discovered they were just what was needed to overcome certain inevitable social emergencies.
  
−
Without the irrelevancy of 'good and bad' a solution to the world's problems becomes apparent. Simply dissolve the sovereign nation-states of the planet. And through Design Science usher in an age of success for all mankind.
+
Of course he made a point of learning all that he could from his mistakes, (he admits to making a lot of them). And, while decreasing the time wasted in worried procrastination, he sought to increase the time he invested in the discovery of technological effectiveness.
  
−
An important part of Fuller's world view is time. For example, he notes that there is a 50 year gestation rate between new technology (used by the military) and the time the technology comes into wide-spread usage.  He found that different [industries] had different gestation rates.
+
And while doing this, he also sought to document his development in the official records by getting government [[patents]].
  
−
Although he didn't 'predict' the exact time of the establishment of the 'one world family' he believed it was not only inevitable, but essential to the sucess of mankind as a species. He laid the framework for the 'family' by clarifying the nature of America, and human beings on the planet.
+
==THE BEGINNING OF REAL WORK==
  
−
He first describes human beings as being the same, except for cultural differences and skin color brought about by local climate differences. And notes that in America the different ethnic groups freely intermingle, obliterating differences long-thought to be unique racial characteristics. Such a process eliminates the 'need' for an us-or-them mindset.
+
In order to accomplish all he set for himself, Fuller sought to discover the role of human beings within the Universe, and to comprehend the principles of the 'eternally regenerative Universe' in order to employ these principles in the development of the specific artifacts that would hasten humanity's fulfillment of its essential role in the Universe.
  
−
At the same time this is occuring, humanity as a whole is producing new technologies at an ever-increasing rate based on the 'syntropic' nature of accumulated and widely-disseminated experience-based know-how. The anti-entropy nature of knowledge is 'synergetic' —producing unexpected beneficial results which were unpredictable based on what came before them. [the internet is a prime example of this synergetic process.]
+
To help accomplish this, he made comprehensive inventories of naturally occuring phenomena, and inventories of human discoveries and developments throughout history.
  
−
Unfortunately a majority of this knowlege is monopolized by the Grunch for personal enrichment at the expense of all people everywhere. But, unbeknownst to the Grunch, as it goes about it's business, it is unwittingly serving mankind. [...] It will 'soon' realize that it is in its best interests to increase and improve its services to mankind.
+
Because no one else had pursued such a course, he sought to operate only on a do-it-yourself basis and only on the basis of his intuition.
  
−
And that occurs as more and more people begin to understand how the Universe works, and master [precession —riding the wave of change as a surfer rides an ocean wave; staying just ahead of change by anticipating the coming changes ].
+
The final element of his 'self disciplines' was to orient his 'comprehensive anticipatory design science strategies' toward future generations.
  
−
One of the best ways of apprehending precession is to become familiar with 'ephemeralization' —the process of not only doing more and more with less and less, but the process of something basic and physical becoming more and more infused with the 'metaphysical'. This results in using fewer and fewer resources to produce a better and better product.
+
===REDEFINING THE WORLD===
  
−
The 'metaphysical' element is intellect —accumulated know-how passed from person to person, being improved at each stop along the way. Fuller seems to suggest that this process of metaphysical ephemeralization will eventually lead to everybody knowing everything all the time; perhaps even doing everything with nothing.
+
A major element of his philosophy is his comprehensive definition of the Universe. physical ... and metaphysical ... which provides the basis for everything which followed.
  
−
Fortunately, Fuller documented everything he did, and made note of the increasing rate of ephemeralization in society. Afterall, in 1895 not many people had traveled around the globe, but here was someone who had made numerous trips in order to discuss ideas —his life was an example of ephemeralization. How did he achive this?
+
He critiqued the [power structure] which he traced the origins of back into the distant past. As well as critiqued the failure of education system to provide answers to important historical events, noting that most history courses ignore the "metaphysical" elements of geopolitics, pointing out that people begin concepualzing history with a 1500C.E. flat earth mindset and don't make the mental transformation which accompanied the change which came when the planet was known to be spherical.
  
−
He learned to read patterns, came to his own conclusions about what he was seeing, and took it upon himself to do what he, starting by himself, could do in service to mankind.
+
He also notes that the Roman Empire destroyed the natural development of mathematics with their system of Roman numerals.
  
 +
[more]
  
  
−
As a result of his near-sightedness, during his first few years he only saw large patterns. And after he got glasses and some schooling, he realized that nature's way of doing things was different than man's way of doing things. His first direct experience with looking at nature, comparing what he saw with what he had been told, and thinking about the difference came while watching bubbles and thinking about spheres. He realized that nature doesn't use Pi to create spheres. And he sought an understanding of how nature produces shapes.
+
==SOME QUOTES FROM SYNERGETICS==
  
−
But, first-things-first. Before he could begin re-organizing Spaceship Earth's administrative system he had to know what came before his birth.
+
Some quotes from Synergetics will assist the reader who is unfamiliar with Fuller to get a firmer grasp on his philosophy. (The full text of [[Synergetics]] is available for download online.) The sub-section numbers (included in the text) will assist in finding the relevant quotes in the context of the complete text.  
−
He began by documenting his life, paralleling [...'s] dictum about the unexamined life not being worth living. His chronofile contained the events of his life along side significant events in his time. He also documented scientific discoveries beginning with the first conscious isolation of something used in an industrial process: arsenic in 750C.E. This continuous inventory of discoveries, combined with an inventory of his personal experiences provided insights into what was possible for someone with similar experiences.
 
  
−
This began his [evolution] into the metaphysical realm. With that step came an understanding that the most rational activity for a person was to commit himself to the cosmic success of all humanity. But he also realized that it is much easier to change the environment than to change people; and that an improved environment would bring about spontaneous changes in people.
+
000.111  Up until the 20th century reality consisted of everything that humans could see, smell, touch, and hear. Then at the entry into the 20th century the electron was discovered. A century after the time of Malthus much of science became invisible with the introduction of an era of electronics, electromagnetics, and atomics. These invisible micro- and macro-exploring cosmic instruments provided for rearrangements of atomic interpositioning whose metallic alloying and chemical structuring produces ever more powerful and incisive performances per pound of physical matter employed. (This is a phenomena Fuller refers to as 'ephemeralization' which produces the ability to do more with less.)
  
−
From this perspective, the most pressing need of mankind is housing. And given the then-current level of social development, housing could be mass-produced and quickly distributed. Hence low-cost air-deliverable Dymaxion dwelling machines produced through Anticipatory Design Science.
+
000.125  The fact that 99 percent of humanity does not understand nature is the prime reason for humanity's failure to exercise its option to attain universally sustainable physical success on this planet. The prime barrier to humanity's discovery and comprehension of nature is the obscurity of the mathematical language of science. Fortunately, however, nature is not using the strictly imaginary, awkward, and unrealistic coordinate system adopted by and taught by present-day academic science.
  
−
Given the right circumstances, mankind's industrial focus could shift from the production of weaponry to the production of 'livingry'. But people would have to give up the historical us-against-them struggle and work together.
+
000.128  Nature is using this completely conceptual eight-dimensional coordinate system that can be comprehended by anyone. Fortunately television, is spontaneously attractive and can be used to teach all the world's people nature's coordinating system-and can do so in time to make it possible for all humanity to favorably comprehend and to exercise its option to attain universal physical success, thereby eliminating forevermore all world politics and competition for the right to live. The hydrogen atom does not have to compromise its function potential by first "earning a living" before it can function directly as a hydrogen atom.  
  
−
To demonstrate what would happen when universal brotherhood and love for all mankind became the norm, Fuller created the World Game. Using current technologies synergetically, participants get to figure out how to solve the life problems of mankind.  
+
000.129  Nature's coordinate system is called Synergetics-synergy means behavior of whole systems unpredicted by any part of the system as considered only separately. The eternally regenerative Universe is synergetic. Humans have been included in this cosmic design as local Universe information-gatherers and local problem-solvers in support of the integrity of the eternal, 100-percent-efficient, self-regenerative system of Universe. In support of their cosmic functioning humans were given their minds with which to discover and employ the generalized laws governing all physical and metaphysical, omniinteraccommodative, ceaseless intertransformings of Universe.  
  
−
One of the most pressing needs [employment] how to earn a living. Obviously Fuller didn't have a clue to finding employment. So he employed himself, testing out his theories of how the Universe works. He figured that if the Universe has any integrity at all, it would support his efforts as he moved in the direction of making mankind a success.
+
000.130  At present 99 percent of humanity is misinformed in believing in the Malthusian concept of the fundamental inadequacy of life support, and so they have misused their minds to develop only personal and partisan advantages, intellectual cunning, and selfishness. ...
  
−
Taking into account all the life-support the Universe provides, which enables mankind to be successful, people shouldn't have to 'work' to earn a living. Instead, everyone could become scientist-artists, and enjoy a high standard of living based on their metaphysical activities.  
+
305.01  Universe is the starting point for any study of synergetic phenomena. The Principle of Synergetic Advantage (see Sec. 229) requires that we return to the Universe as our starting point in all problem consideration. We assiduously avoid all the imposed disciplines of progressive specialization. We depend entirely upon our innate facilities, the most important of which is our intuition, and test our progressive intuitions with experiments.
  
−
Of course he realized that most people would just go fishing, but even some of those would generate enough breakthroughs to improve the lives of everyone on the planet.
+
311.01  Of all the subcosmic, integrally interpatterning complexes that we know of in our Universe, there is no organic complex that in any way compares with that of the human being. We have only one counterpart of total complexity, and that is Universe itself.2  (Footnote 2: Apparently, man matches the Universe in displaying the same relative abundance of the 92 self-regenerative chemical elements.)  That such a complex miniature Universe is found to be present on this planet, and that it is "born" absolutely ignorant, is part of the manifold of design integrities.
 +
 
 +
326.04  We can refine all the tools and energy capability of single and commonwealth into two main constituents__the physical and the metaphysical. The physical consists of specific, measurable energy quantities; the metaphysical consists of specifically demonstrable know-how capabilities. Only the metaphysical can designedly organize the physical, landscape-forming events to human advantage, and do so while also maintaining the regenerative integrity of the complex ecological-physiological support of human life aboard our planet....
  
−
Fuller defined 'wealth' as the "technological ability to protect, nurture, support, and accommodate all growth needs of life", and he realized that in the 1970s mankind had become unbelievably wealthy.
+
326.31  Comprehensive Universe combines both the metaphysical Universe and the physical Universe. The local physical system is the one we experience sensorially: the conceptual metaphysical system is one we never experience physically but only consider in thought.  ...  
  
−
At the turn of the century (2000) it is still difficult to believe his statement, but that's because the vast majority of that wealth is invisible to the naked eye, and is only apprehendable by the mind.
+
==LEGACY==
  
−
But this new era for mankind requires a global electrical grid to effectively channel the surplus electricity to places which need it. Of course this requires producing electricity by every means possible and feeding it into the grid. Among other means of production, the Sun showers the planet, 24 hours a day, with more than enough energy to satisfy the grid. But that requires unprecidented international cooperation, or the dissolution of the nation-state.
+
Fuller's legacy won't be fully-obvious for awhile. But in the meantime we can conclude that his efforts to prevent the extinction of the human race in the 20th century were, in part, successful so far.
  
−
In any case, Fuller has fulfilled the role of grand architect for life by dividing the universe into physical and metaphysical; apprehending the relationship between the two; and applied the generalized universal principles to daily life for the benefit of all mankind.
+
While we don't all live in dymaxion dwelling machines (yet), we are beginning to see the need for such things. And more and more people are becoming familiar with the 'invisible world', while acknowledging the futility of the previously-dominant muscle-power frame of reference.  
  
 +
And while we don't have a one world family yet, the increasing ease of movement between nations and the free-flow of information and ideas between people is undeniable, (for wxample, television and the Internet). This virtual dissolution of borders is making it possible for people to develop concern for the general welfare of strangers on distant areas of the planet.
  
 +
But another sign of Fuller's influence is the increasing discussion of doing more with less. (Although many proponents of less-is-more haven't yet grasped the metaphysical aspect of ephemeralization, they are beginning to grasp the basic idea of using fewer resources. But population pressures will push society toward getting greater performance out of materials.)
  
−
====================
+
More importantly, Fuller demonstrated that the Universe would support the efforts of people who dedicated themselves to serving all humanity.
−
LEGACY
+
−
FROM GRUNCH
+
In anticipation of his legacy being fully realized, here is a quote from the introduction to [[Grunch of Giants]], (the entire text is available for download online).
  
 
"I was convinced that within the twentieth century, all of humanity on our planet would enter a period of total crisis. I could see that there was an alternative to politics and its ever more wasteful, warring, and inherently vain attempts to solve one-sidedly all humanity's basic economic and social problems.
 
"I was convinced that within the twentieth century, all of humanity on our planet would enter a period of total crisis. I could see that there was an alternative to politics and its ever more wasteful, warring, and inherently vain attempts to solve one-sidedly all humanity's basic economic and social problems.
  
−
That alternative was through invention, development, and reduction to the physically working stages of massproduction prototypes of each member of a complete family of intercomplementary artifacts, structurally, mechanically, chemically, metallurgically, electromagnetically, and cybernetically designed to provide so much performance per each erg of energy, pound of material, and second of time invested as to make it eminently feasible and practicable to  
+
"That alternative was through invention, development, and reduction to the physically working stages of massproduction prototypes of each member of a complete family of intercomplementary artifacts, structurally, mechanically, chemically, metallurgically, electromagnetically, and cybernetically designed to provide so much performance per each erg of energy, pound of material, and second of time invested as to make it eminently feasible and practicable to  
−
provide a sustainable standard of living for all humanity — more advanced, pleasing, and increasingly productive than any ever experienced or dreamed of by anyone in all history. It was clear that this advanced level could be entirely sustained by the many derivatives of our daily income of Sun energy. It was clear that it could be attained and maintained by artifacts that would emancipate humans from piped, wired, and metered exploitation of the many by the  
+
provide a sustainable standard of living for all humanity — more advanced, pleasing, and increasingly productive than any ever experienced or dreamed of by anyone in all history. It was clear that this advanced level could be entirely sustained by the many derivatives of our daily income of Sun energy. It was clear that it could be attained and maintained by artifacts that would emancipate humans from piped, wired, and metered exploitation of the many by the few.  
−
few.
 
−
 
 
−
This family of artifacts leading to such comprehensive human success I identified as livingry in contradistinction to politics' weaponry. I called it technologically reforming the environment instead of trying politically to reform the people. (I explain that concept in great detail in the latter part of this book. I also elucidated it in my book Critical Path, published in 1981 by St. Martin's Press.)
 
−
 
 
−
Equally important, I set about fifty-five years ago (1927) to see what a
 
−
penniless, unknown human individual with a dependent wife and newborn child might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity in realistically developing such an alternative program. Being human, I made all the mistakes there were to be made, but I learned to learn by realistic recognition of the constituent facts of the mistake-making and attempted to understand what the uncovered truths were trying to teach me.
 
  
−
In my (Philadelphia) archives there are approximately forty thousand articles published during the last sixty years which successively document my progressive completions of the whole intercomplementary family of scheduled artifacts."
+
"This family of artifacts leading to such comprehensive human success I identified as livingry in contradistinction to politics' weaponry. I called it technologically reforming the environment instead of trying politically to reform the people. (I explain that concept in great detail in the (book Grunch of Giants). I also elucidated it in my book Critical Path.)
  
−
It's impossible to do justice to Fuller in a short article, (Everything I Know is 42 hours of videotape available online). For a much more detailed view of Fuller's contribution to humanity visit the Buckminster Fuller Institute in New York.
+
"Equally important, I set about fifty-five years ago (1927) to see what a penniless, unknown human individual with a dependent wife and newborn child might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity in realistically developing such an alternative program. Being human, I made all the mistakes there were to be made, but I learned to learn by realistic recognition of the constituent facts of the mistake-making and attempted to understand what the uncovered truths were trying to teach me.
−
-----------
 
  
−
UNIFICATION ASPECTS
+
"In my (Philadelphia) [[archives]] there are approximately forty thousand articles published during the last sixty years which successively document my progressive completions of the whole intercomplementary family of scheduled artifacts."
  
−
[tentative areas include:  
+
It is impossible to do justice to Fuller in a short article, (for example, [[Everything I Know]] is 42 hours of videotape available online; and [[http://collections.stanford.edu/bucky/bin/page?forward=home]] includes 1700 more hours of A-V material).
−
merit of the age
 
−
original ideal
 
−
God's point of view
 
  
 +
For a much more detailed view of Fuller's contribution to humanity visit the [[Buckminster Fuller Institute]] in New York.
  
 +
[[User:James Robinson|Hammond]] 22:17, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
  
 
==Concepts and buildings==
 
==Concepts and buildings==

Revision as of 22:17, 18 October 2006

Richard Buckminster ("Bucky") Fuller (July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American visionary, designer, architect, poet, author, and inventor.


RICHARD BUCKMINSTER FULLER

5490 words including Uni Aspects, but not bibliography

INTRODUCTION

One of the most powerful influences on R. Buckminster Fuller was a pair of glasses he got as he was entering kindergarten in 1900. They were to become his trademark.

In 1927 he contemplated suicide, but at the last minute decided to re-think everything he had ever been taught to believe, dedicated himself to serving mankind, and began a complete inventory of world resources.

In the 1940s he recognized the emergence of an invisible reality which could be perceived only by the mind. In the 1970s Fuller realized that it was now possible to provide a very high standard of living for all mankind, making resource-wars obsolete.



BIOGRAPHY

Richard Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller, (July 12, 1895 - July 1, 1983), was an American-born architect who worked and taught all around the planet. He popularized the term 'synergy', wrote over 21 books, and was granted 28 US patents. He wrote and lectured on the nature of the Universe, the role of human beings, history, and corporations. His life is considered to be the most documented in history.

Up to the age of four Fuller didn't realize that the patterns he had grown accustomed to were the result of near-sightedness until his family realized the situation and fitted him with correctve lenses. His most vivid childhood memory was welcoming in the new century with his first pair glasses. His pursuit of the patterns he found in nature continued throughout his life. His search for nature's coordinate system, and mankind's role in the universe began while he watched bubbles and realized that nature doesn't use Pi to create spheres.

Often thought of as an eccentric utopian, Fuller was a critic of the way society had been organized since the time of the Phoencians. His view of history revealed the increasing significance of mind-power over muscle-power. He claimed to be a verb, predicted a one world family, and claimed that every human being could comprehend the generalized principles of the universe and continue the creative work begun by God.

The invitations, awards, and appointments which followed him through all the days of his adult life were not the result of self-promotion, but came because others recognized the value of his design science work.

Born to R B Fuller and Caroline Wolcott Andrews in Milton, Massachusetts, Bucky grew up on the family farm off the coast of Maine on Bear Island. He had no expection that in his lifetime mankind would go from horse and buggy to walking on the Moon.

Relatives who influenced his thinking during the first decade of the 1900s included his great aunt Margaret Fuller Assoli (who, with Ralph Waldo Emerson co-edited the Transcendentalist magazine — the Dial, were the first to publish Thoreau, and was author of Woman in the Nineteenth Century), and his uncle, Waldo Fuller (...}. After elementary school, he attended Milton Academy upper school.

Fuller, inspired by Robert Burns, began keeping a journal when he was 12 years old, [1907], in the hopes of seeing himself as others saw him, and getting a glimpse of his "comprehensively integrated self". He later renamed his journal the Chronofile. His father, Richard, one of several generations of Harvard-educated Fullers, had a stroke that year and died three years later.

During the second decade of the 20th century Fuller continued his education, graduating from Milton Academy in 1913 and followed in the footsteps of his father's family by enrolling at Harvard (as a member of the Class of 1917). But Bucky was expelled a year later. He moved to Quebec, Canada and worked at a cotton mill until given a second chance at Harvard. A year later he was expelled again. This time he went to New York city and got a 12 hour a day job with the Armour meat packing company.

Fuller's short military career began in 1916, (two years after the beginning of WWI), when he entered the US military training camp in Plattsburg, NY, as a corporal. A year later he joined the US Naval Reserve, and married Anne Hewlett on his birthday. Their first daughter, Alexandra was born in 1918. That same year, he was assigned to a short special course at Annapolis, and a year later was temporarily assigned to the USS George Washington, then to another special course at Annapolis. Promoted to Lt. USN, he was assigned to troop transport duty as a personal aide to Admiral Albert Gleaves. He also saw service on the USS Great Northern and USS Seattle.

The Navy provided much food for Fuller's thoughts about history and the Universe. But on November 1, 1919 he resigned when Gleaves was assigned as commander in chief of the [Asiatic fleet], and his daughter, Alexandra, got sick.

The beginning of the 1920s saw Fuller again working for Armour and Company, this time as an assistant export manager in their NYC headquarters. But in 1921 he resigned to become a national account sales manager with the Kelly-Springfield truck company, also in NYC.

The following year he resigned from Kelly-Springfield to start a career as an 'independent enterpriser' and joined with his father-in-law in developing the Stockade Building System, and built light-weight, weatherproof, and fireproof houses. That year saw Alexandra die of complications from polio and spinal meningitis. Four years later, in 1926, after not making any money building houses, Fuller resigned as president of Stockade.

Believing that his was a "throwaway life" at 32, (1927), Fuller contemplated suicide. Standing on a river pier, he nearly threw himself into the water. But, instead, decided to do his own thinking for the first time in his life, and embarked on an 'experiment' to see what one person in his situation could do to benefit mankind.

NEW BEGINNING

Fuller got serious about housing, and published his first book, 4-D Timelock, established a research and development company, and began developing his energetic/synergetic geometry. During this time he invented a "dymaxion dwelling machine" as part of his concept of air-deliverable, mass-producable houses based on anticipatory design science.

In 1929 Fuller was a regular at Romany Marie's Tavern in Greenwich Village, NY, eating dinner with associates and discussing the development of his ideas.

The 1930s saw Fuller buy, and later close, a magazine in Philadelphia, at about the same time he was featured in a Fortune magazine article on the housing industry. His mother, Caroline, passed away during this time, and he got involved with experimental television broadcasts at CBS studios; and then became the science and technology consultant for Fortune magazine.

As he pursued his research and development activities in the 1940s, Fuller entered his element when he realized that an 'invisible world' based on technological know-how, was beginning to emerge and reshape the world. At this time Fuller began an informal, but long-term, relationship with the US government.

In 1940 Fuller left Fortune magazine and started the deployment unit of the Butler Manufacturing Company in Kansas City. (Butler manufactured metal buildings used as radar shacks and dorms for US flyers and mechanics.)

Two years later Fuller joined the US Board of Economic Warfare as its head mechanical engineer in Washington, DC. And in 1944 he became a special assistant to the Deputy Director of the US Foreign Economic Administration.

Until 1946 Fuller lived in Wichita, Kansas, where he, as chief design engineer, produced a prototype of the Dymaxion house under the auspices of a coalition of labor, private, and government organizations. Also in '46 Fuller was awarded the first cartographic projection patent ever granted by the US Patent Office for his Dymaxion map of the world. The map can be configured to show the Earth as either a one ocean planet or as a one island planet, without distorting the size of the continents. mapimage.jpgpipethumbpipecaption

The following year Fuller invented the geodesic dome (add image) — it was the first building that could sustain its own weight with no practical limits; and became a professor at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, which was his first academic appointment. In 1948 he returned to Massachusetts as a visiting lecturer at MIT while teaching summer sessions at Black Mountain where he became a dean ('49). He also got involved with the Chicago Institute of Design.

THE BEGINNING OF INCREASED ACTIVITY

The 1950s saw Fuller's academic schedule begin to increase; his geometry began to be recognized by the scientific community, and he recieved his first major award. In 1951 Fuller pointed out the similarities between the DNA helix and his tetrahelix model. [images of dna and tetrahelix]

After the geodesic dome was patented in 1954, the US Marines began using the domes for air-lifted housing. Meanwhile, the work of Thomas Malthus is discredited as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization acknowledges that Malthus was wrong ('55). [image of dome]

In 1956 Fuller began a long-term relationship with Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, with his first visiting lecturer appointment there. Two years later, as he is making his first complete circuit of the Earth in the fulfillment of regular university appointments, Fuller's geometry is found to explain nature's fundamental structuring at the atomic and virus levels by nuclear physicists and molecular biologists. And he is awarded a Gold Medal by the National Architectural Society.

And in 1959 he was appointed by the State Department as an engineering representative to Russia (USSR) in a protocol exchange. He is also appointed as a research professor at SIU and is awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree that year.

By 1961 over 2,000 geodesic domes had been produced by over 100 industrial corporations, delivered primarily by air, and installed in 40 countries as well in both polar zones.

In a strange twist of irony, Fuller recieves a one-year ('62) appointment as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard. This begins the rehabilitation of Fuller's Harvard years.

1962 also began the Houston Astrodome debachal(sp) in which Fuller did all the prepatory research for the project, but at the last minute the project was given to another company to be built.

In 1963 Fuller's formula of frequency leads to the finding of virus protein shells. see reference org in crit path. He publishes four books; and begins involvement with Doxiadis' Delos Symposium as a member and speaker.

In 1965 Fuller inaugurated the World Design Science Decade (1965 to 1975) at the meeting of the International Union of Architects in Paris, France. A year later he initiates the World Game at SIU; and lectures scientists and engineers on the commercial spinoffs from space technology at Cape Kennedy (Kennedy Space Center).

In 1967, in the ultimate step toward rehabilitation, the Harvard Class of 1917 inducts Fuller into Phi Beta Kappa during their 50th reunion. Meanwhile, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) commissions him to research a tetrahedronal floating city project, as he fulfills an appointment as the Harvey Cushing Orator at the Congress of the American Association of Neuro-Surgeons' annual meeting in Chicago. He explained the difference between the human brain and the mind to the 2,000 members of the organization.

In 1968, those who read Playboy magazine for the articles, read Fuller's article on The City of the Future.

The following year, Fuller led the first public World Game workshop (in New York state); and testifies on the World Game before the US Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations at the invitation of the Chairman, Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine. Then Fuller went to India to lecture on planetary planning.

After being cited as Humanist of the Year, Fuller becomes the Hoyt Fellow at Yale, and recieves a Citation of Merit from HUD.

Among all his other projects, Fuller was an amature(sp) historian who produced an interesting view of the past based on oceanic trade routes. In 1970 his view of pre-history was supported by archeological discoveries, and he was awarded Stone Age axes from Austrailia and Finland in recognition of this work. In the meantime, his book 'I Seem to be a Verb' is published by Bantam, and he is installed as Master Architect for Life by the national chapter of the Alpha Rho Chi fraternity.

In an unprecedented move, in 1971, the New York Times printed Fuller's telegram to Senator Edmund Muskie — it filled the entire OpEd page.

In 1972 the special 40th anniversary issue of Architectrual Forum, and England's Architectural Design magazines were devoted to Fuller's work; and Playboy interviewed him.

Fuller continued to recieve an ever-increasing number of awards and honors. In 1974, during his 37th complete circuit of Earth in fulfillment of invitations and academic responsibilities, Fuller gives 150 major addresses. Meanwhile, the Club of Rome reintroduces the ideas of Thomas Malthus within their Limits to Growth report.

The following year Fuller publishes Synergetics, (the result of his 50 years of work on what he claimed to be nature's geometric coordinate system). The book contains an introduction and article by Harvard mathematician Arthur Loeb, who warns that that the book would restimulate wide-spread interest in geometry.

While Synergetics is hitting the bookstores, Fuller is named Professor Emeritus at SIU and the University of Pennsylvania; makes his 39th circuit of Earth, and testifies before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

In 1976 Fuller creates the Jitterbug sculture —demonstrating fourth dimensional wave generation. He testifies at the US House hearing on the recovery of the city, and speaks at Habitat: the UN conference on Human Settlements, in Vancouver BC Canada.

In '77 Fuller was the first witness at the US Senate Select Committee on Small Business hearings on alternate energy, then left on a Far East lecture tour sponsored by the State Department and the US Information Agency; he also writes an article, 50 Years Ahead of My Time, for the Saturday Evening Post.

In '78 he testifies before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committe and describes using satellites to take daily inventories of everything from world resources to global public opinion polls. And then appears on Will Durant's NBC television series, Lessons of History.

The last year of the 70s found Fuller in NYC with EST founder Werner Erhart(sp). They presented their views of the world at the Radio City Music Hall before 6,000 people. Erhart made the startling statement that he never considered principles to be important until he met Fuller.

Fuller made an equally startling statement, which reflected his life-long concern about the continued existence of the human race. He said to the audience: "To be optimistic about the future you have to know a lot. But to be pessimistic about the future you don't have to know nothing." When asked by a reporter how could one learn what he knows, Fuller simply answered: "Read my books".

The last few years of his life demonstrated his dedication to the fate of mankind. In 1980 he traveled to Brazil to view the implementation of industrialization strategies he first described in 1942; was appointed to a Presidential Commission to follow up the Carter-commissioned Global 2000 Report, (which was based on the Limits to Growth report); and was appointed to a congressional committee on the future.

1980 also saw the issue of the Robert Grip-Christopher Kitrick edition of Fuller's Dymaxion sky-ocean world map, which was acknowledged as the largest, most accurate, whole Earth map in history.

His books, Critical Path (1981) and Grunch of Giants (1983), are easily accessable overviews of his life's work. But 1983 also saw his wife, Anne, dying of cancer. On July 1st, Buckminster Fuller passed away, and Anne slipped away hours later. He is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston, Massachusetts, after completing almost 50 circuits of the planet.

PHILOSOPHY/WORLD VIEW

It is easy to classify Fuller as a Natural Philosopher, (drawing insights from nature with no supernatural intervention). But he was also a metaphysician, (pointing to the essential role of the invisible reality). He always emphasized that he was an average person who had done nothing anyone else couldn't do.

SELF DISCIPLINES

The most easily-accessable presentation of Fuller's philosophy and worldview comes from Critical Path in a review of a set of "self disciplines" which he imposed upon himself and used to guide his life.

In his early days, Fuller followed the guidance of his elders (parents and relatives) who always said, in effect, 'Darling, never mind what you think. Listen. We are trying to teach you.'

He also encountered an important piece of advice from his grandmother who revealed to him the Golden Rule: 'Love thy neighbor as thyself — do unto others as you would they should do unto you.'

But as he got older his uncles gave him the facts of life, which was the standard belief system of most people during the 19th and 20th centuries. 'Life is hard', they told him in so many words. 'There is nowhere nearly enough life support for everybody on our planet, let alone enough for a comfortable life. If you want to raise a family and have a comfortable life for them, you are going to have to deprive others of the opportunity to survive, and the sooner the better.' This was an idea which may as well have come from the mouths of Thomas Malthus, Charles Darwin, and Herbert Spencer. His uncles told him that 'Your grandmother's Golden Rule is beautiful, but it doesn't work.'

Knowing that his family loved him, Fuller trained himself to ignore his own thinking and learned the 'game of life' as taught by others.

As a line officer in the US Navy, (1917 at 22), he renamed his journal the Chronofile to document his success in the world. But after leaving the Navy he realized that he was a "spontaneous failure" when it came to the business world. At the age of 32 he decided to use himself in a life-long "experiment" which he called the Evolution of Guinea Pig B (B for Buckminster).

Instead of committing his efforts to the exclusive benefit of himself, his family, or his country, Fuller decided to commit all his productive protential to seeing "what a healthy young male human of average size, experience, and capabilities with a dependent wife and newborn child, with no money, credit, or university degree, could effectively do to lastingly improve the physical protection and support of all human lives, while at the same time removing undesirable restraints and improving individual initiatives of any and all humans."

This required a comprehensive and integrated view of the world —the entire planet and all its resources, and the cumulative, metaphysical know-how of humanity.

Since it was obvious that no one had pursued such a course in the past, Fuller was forced by circumstance to do his own thinking about how to proceed with the "experiment". So he confined his thoughts to experientially gained information, and to the products of his own thinking and intuitions. This was in order to be true to himself, instead of trying to accommodate everyone else's opinions as he had previously done.

Another of his "self discipines" was to commit himself to not taking advantage of others or putting them at a disadvantage. And he had to demonstrate that his goals could only be accomplished through his work and not through social reform.

But the data and devices he produced had to be so effective that they would result in a more desirable life-style and be "spontaneously adopted" by all mankind. The only catch was that he wouldn't talk about any of his inventions until they had been proven or disproven.

Along this line, Fuller never tried to persuade people to alter their customs and viewpoints by promoting his ideas or, through agents, promoting his work. All support had to come spontaneously, in accord with the evolution of human affairs at nature's own pace.

But he sought to develop his "artifacts" with enough time margins so they would be ready for use by society when society discovered they were just what was needed to overcome certain inevitable social emergencies.

Of course he made a point of learning all that he could from his mistakes, (he admits to making a lot of them). And, while decreasing the time wasted in worried procrastination, he sought to increase the time he invested in the discovery of technological effectiveness.

And while doing this, he also sought to document his development in the official records by getting government patents.

THE BEGINNING OF REAL WORK

In order to accomplish all he set for himself, Fuller sought to discover the role of human beings within the Universe, and to comprehend the principles of the 'eternally regenerative Universe' in order to employ these principles in the development of the specific artifacts that would hasten humanity's fulfillment of its essential role in the Universe.

To help accomplish this, he made comprehensive inventories of naturally occuring phenomena, and inventories of human discoveries and developments throughout history.

Because no one else had pursued such a course, he sought to operate only on a do-it-yourself basis and only on the basis of his intuition.

The final element of his 'self disciplines' was to orient his 'comprehensive anticipatory design science strategies' toward future generations.

REDEFINING THE WORLD

A major element of his philosophy is his comprehensive definition of the Universe. physical ... and metaphysical ... which provides the basis for everything which followed.

He critiqued the [power structure] which he traced the origins of back into the distant past. As well as critiqued the failure of education system to provide answers to important historical events, noting that most history courses ignore the "metaphysical" elements of geopolitics, pointing out that people begin concepualzing history with a 1500C.E. flat earth mindset and don't make the mental transformation which accompanied the change which came when the planet was known to be spherical.

He also notes that the Roman Empire destroyed the natural development of mathematics with their system of Roman numerals.

[more]


SOME QUOTES FROM SYNERGETICS

Some quotes from Synergetics will assist the reader who is unfamiliar with Fuller to get a firmer grasp on his philosophy. (The full text of Synergetics is available for download online.) The sub-section numbers (included in the text) will assist in finding the relevant quotes in the context of the complete text.

000.111 Up until the 20th century reality consisted of everything that humans could see, smell, touch, and hear. Then at the entry into the 20th century the electron was discovered. A century after the time of Malthus much of science became invisible with the introduction of an era of electronics, electromagnetics, and atomics. These invisible micro- and macro-exploring cosmic instruments provided for rearrangements of atomic interpositioning whose metallic alloying and chemical structuring produces ever more powerful and incisive performances per pound of physical matter employed. (This is a phenomena Fuller refers to as 'ephemeralization' which produces the ability to do more with less.)

000.125 The fact that 99 percent of humanity does not understand nature is the prime reason for humanity's failure to exercise its option to attain universally sustainable physical success on this planet. The prime barrier to humanity's discovery and comprehension of nature is the obscurity of the mathematical language of science. Fortunately, however, nature is not using the strictly imaginary, awkward, and unrealistic coordinate system adopted by and taught by present-day academic science.

000.128 Nature is using this completely conceptual eight-dimensional coordinate system that can be comprehended by anyone. Fortunately television, is spontaneously attractive and can be used to teach all the world's people nature's coordinating system-and can do so in time to make it possible for all humanity to favorably comprehend and to exercise its option to attain universal physical success, thereby eliminating forevermore all world politics and competition for the right to live. The hydrogen atom does not have to compromise its function potential by first "earning a living" before it can function directly as a hydrogen atom.

000.129 Nature's coordinate system is called Synergetics-synergy means behavior of whole systems unpredicted by any part of the system as considered only separately. The eternally regenerative Universe is synergetic. Humans have been included in this cosmic design as local Universe information-gatherers and local problem-solvers in support of the integrity of the eternal, 100-percent-efficient, self-regenerative system of Universe. In support of their cosmic functioning humans were given their minds with which to discover and employ the generalized laws governing all physical and metaphysical, omniinteraccommodative, ceaseless intertransformings of Universe.

000.130 At present 99 percent of humanity is misinformed in believing in the Malthusian concept of the fundamental inadequacy of life support, and so they have misused their minds to develop only personal and partisan advantages, intellectual cunning, and selfishness. ...

305.01 Universe is the starting point for any study of synergetic phenomena. The Principle of Synergetic Advantage (see Sec. 229) requires that we return to the Universe as our starting point in all problem consideration. We assiduously avoid all the imposed disciplines of progressive specialization. We depend entirely upon our innate facilities, the most important of which is our intuition, and test our progressive intuitions with experiments.

311.01 Of all the subcosmic, integrally interpatterning complexes that we know of in our Universe, there is no organic complex that in any way compares with that of the human being. We have only one counterpart of total complexity, and that is Universe itself.2 (Footnote 2: Apparently, man matches the Universe in displaying the same relative abundance of the 92 self-regenerative chemical elements.) That such a complex miniature Universe is found to be present on this planet, and that it is "born" absolutely ignorant, is part of the manifold of design integrities.

326.04 We can refine all the tools and energy capability of single and commonwealth into two main constituents__the physical and the metaphysical. The physical consists of specific, measurable energy quantities; the metaphysical consists of specifically demonstrable know-how capabilities. Only the metaphysical can designedly organize the physical, landscape-forming events to human advantage, and do so while also maintaining the regenerative integrity of the complex ecological-physiological support of human life aboard our planet....

326.31 Comprehensive Universe combines both the metaphysical Universe and the physical Universe. The local physical system is the one we experience sensorially: the conceptual metaphysical system is one we never experience physically but only consider in thought. ...

LEGACY

Fuller's legacy won't be fully-obvious for awhile. But in the meantime we can conclude that his efforts to prevent the extinction of the human race in the 20th century were, in part, successful so far.

While we don't all live in dymaxion dwelling machines (yet), we are beginning to see the need for such things. And more and more people are becoming familiar with the 'invisible world', while acknowledging the futility of the previously-dominant muscle-power frame of reference.

And while we don't have a one world family yet, the increasing ease of movement between nations and the free-flow of information and ideas between people is undeniable, (for wxample, television and the Internet). This virtual dissolution of borders is making it possible for people to develop concern for the general welfare of strangers on distant areas of the planet.

But another sign of Fuller's influence is the increasing discussion of doing more with less. (Although many proponents of less-is-more haven't yet grasped the metaphysical aspect of ephemeralization, they are beginning to grasp the basic idea of using fewer resources. But population pressures will push society toward getting greater performance out of materials.)

More importantly, Fuller demonstrated that the Universe would support the efforts of people who dedicated themselves to serving all humanity.

In anticipation of his legacy being fully realized, here is a quote from the introduction to Grunch of Giants, (the entire text is available for download online).

"I was convinced that within the twentieth century, all of humanity on our planet would enter a period of total crisis. I could see that there was an alternative to politics and its ever more wasteful, warring, and inherently vain attempts to solve one-sidedly all humanity's basic economic and social problems.

"That alternative was through invention, development, and reduction to the physically working stages of massproduction prototypes of each member of a complete family of intercomplementary artifacts, structurally, mechanically, chemically, metallurgically, electromagnetically, and cybernetically designed to provide so much performance per each erg of energy, pound of material, and second of time invested as to make it eminently feasible and practicable to provide a sustainable standard of living for all humanity — more advanced, pleasing, and increasingly productive than any ever experienced or dreamed of by anyone in all history. It was clear that this advanced level could be entirely sustained by the many derivatives of our daily income of Sun energy. It was clear that it could be attained and maintained by artifacts that would emancipate humans from piped, wired, and metered exploitation of the many by the few.

"This family of artifacts leading to such comprehensive human success I identified as livingry in contradistinction to politics' weaponry. I called it technologically reforming the environment instead of trying politically to reform the people. (I explain that concept in great detail in the (book Grunch of Giants). I also elucidated it in my book Critical Path.)

"Equally important, I set about fifty-five years ago (1927) to see what a penniless, unknown human individual with a dependent wife and newborn child might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity in realistically developing such an alternative program. Being human, I made all the mistakes there were to be made, but I learned to learn by realistic recognition of the constituent facts of the mistake-making and attempted to understand what the uncovered truths were trying to teach me.

"In my (Philadelphia) archives there are approximately forty thousand articles published during the last sixty years which successively document my progressive completions of the whole intercomplementary family of scheduled artifacts."

It is impossible to do justice to Fuller in a short article, (for example, Everything I Know is 42 hours of videotape available online; and [[1]] includes 1700 more hours of A-V material).

For a much more detailed view of Fuller's contribution to humanity visit the Buckminster Fuller Institute in New York.

Hammond 22:17, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Concepts and buildings

His concepts and buildings include:

  • Dymaxion house (1928) See autonomous building
  • Aerodynamic Dymaxion car (1933)
  • Prefabricated compact bathroom cell (1937)
  • Dymaxion Map of the world (1946)
  • Buildings (1943)
  • Tensegrity structures (1949)
  • Geodesic dome for Ford Motor Company (1953)
  • Patent on geodesic domes (1954)
  • The World Game (1961) and the World Game Institute (1972)
  • Patent on octet truss (1961)

Literature

His publications include:

See also

  • Whole Earth Catalog
  • Margaret Fuller: Noted transcendentalist and Buckminster Fuller's great aunt.

External links

Wikiquote-logo-en.png
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Audio and video

bs:Buckminster Fuller ca:Buckminster Fuller cs:Buckminster Fuller da:Buckminster Fuller de:Buckminster Fuller es:Richard Buckminster Fuller eo:Buckminster Fuller fr:Richard Buckminster Fuller he:בקמינסטר פולר id:Buckminster Fuller it:Buckminster Fuller nl:Richard Buckminster Fuller ja:バックミンスター・フラー nds:Buckminster Fuller pl:Buckminster Fuller pt:Buckminster Fuller ru:Фуллер, Ричард Бакминстер sco:Buckminster Fuller simple:Buckminster Fuller fi:Buckminster Fuller sv:Buckminster Fuller vi:Buckminster Fuller uk:Фуллер Річард Бакмінстер zh:巴克敏斯特·富勒

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Retrieved from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Buckminster_Fuller&oldid=123596

Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Copyright Logo
Powered by MediaWiki