Editing Buckminster Fuller (section)

== Life and work ==

[[File:BuckminsterFuller cropped.jpg|thumb|220px|Fuller {{circa|1910}}]]

Fuller was born on July 12, 1895, in [[Milton, Massachusetts]], the son of Richard Buckminster Fuller, a prosperous leather and tea merchant, and Caroline Wolcott Andrews. He was a grand-nephew of [[Margaret Fuller]], an American journalist, critic, and [[women's rights]] advocate associated with the American [[transcendentalism]] movement. The unusual middle name, Buckminster, was an ancestral family name. As a child, Richard Buckminster Fuller tried numerous variations of his name. He used to sign his name differently each year in the guest register of his family summer vacation home at Bear Island, Maine. He finally settled on R. Buckminster Fuller.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Buckminster Fuller's Universe: His Life and Work|last=Sieden|first=Steven|year=2000|publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0738203799}}</ref>

Fuller spent much of his youth on [[Bear Island (Maine)|Bear Island]], in [[Penobscot Bay]] off the coast of Maine. He attended [[Friedrich Fröbel|Froebelian Kindergarten]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Provenzo|first=Eugene F.|date=2009|title=Friedrich Froebel's Gifts: Connecting the Spiritual and Aesthetic to the Real World of Play and Learning|url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1069222|journal=American Journal of Play|language=en|volume=2|issue=1|pages=85–99|issn=1938-0399|via=ERIC}}</ref>  He was dissatisfied with the way [[geometry]] was taught in school, disagreeing with the notions that a chalk dot on the blackboard represented an "empty" mathematical [[Point (geometry)|point]], or that a line could stretch off to [[infinity]]. To him these were illogical, and led to his work on [[Synergetics (Fuller)|synergetics]]. He often made items from materials he found in the woods, and sometimes made his own tools. He experimented with designing a new apparatus for human propulsion of small boats. By age 12, he had invented a 'push pull' system for propelling a rowboat by use of an inverted umbrella connected to the [[transom (nautical)|transom]] with a simple oar lock which allowed the user to face forward to point the boat toward its destination. Later in life, Fuller took exception to the term "invention." {{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Years later, he decided that this sort of experience had provided him with not only an interest in design, but also a habit of being familiar with and knowledgeable about the materials that his later projects would require. Fuller earned a [[machinist]]'s certification, and knew how to use the [[press brake]], stretch press, and other tools and equipment used in the [[sheet metal]] trade.<ref name=pawley>{{cite book |last=Pawley |first=Martin |title=Buckminster Fuller |location=New York |publisher=Taplinger |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-8008-1116-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/buckminsterfulle00pawl }}</ref>

=== Education ===

Fuller attended [[Milton Academy]] in Massachusetts, and after that began studying at [[Harvard College]], where he was affiliated with [[Adams House (Harvard University)|Adams House]]. He was expelled from Harvard twice: first for spending all his money partying with a [[vaudeville]] troupe, and then, after having been readmitted, for his "irresponsibility and lack of interest."  By his own appraisal, he was a non-conforming misfit in the fraternity environment.<ref name=pawley />

=== Wartime experience ===

Between his sessions at Harvard, Fuller worked in Canada as a mechanic in a textile [[factory|mill]], and later as a laborer in the [[meat-packing industry]]. 

He also served in the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] in [[World War I]], as a shipboard radio operator, as an editor of a publication, and as commander of the [[crash rescue boat]] [[USS Inca (SP-1212)|USS ''Inca'']]. After discharge, he worked again in the meat-packing industry, acquiring management experience. 

In 1917, he married Anne Hewlett. During the early 1920s, he and his father-in-law developed the [[Stockade Building System]] for producing lightweight, weatherproof, and fireproof housing—although the company would ultimately fail<ref name=pawley /> in 1927.<ref name="Sieden-p84-85">{{Cite book |first=Lloyd Steven |last=Sieden |title=Buckminster Fuller's Universe: His Life and Work |location=New York |publisher=[[Perseus Books Group]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7382-0379-9 |pages=84–85 |quote=However, in 1927 his own financial difficulties forced Mr. Hewlett to sell his stock in the company. Within weeks Stockade Building Systems became a subsidiary of Celotex Corporation, whose primary motivation was akin to that of other conventional companies: making a profit. Celotex management took one look at Stockade's financial records and called for a complete overhaul of the company. The first casualty of the transition was Stockade's controversial president [Buckminster Fuller, who was fired].}}</ref>

=== Depression and epiphany ===
Fuller recalled 1927 as a pivotal year of his life. His daughter Alexandra had died in 1922 of complications from [[polio]] and [[spinal meningitis]]<ref>Fuller, R. Buckminster, ''Your Private Sky'', p. 27</ref> just before her fourth birthday.<ref name="Sieden-1989-Buckminster-Fuller's-Universe">{{cite book | title=Buckminster Fuller's Universe: His Life and Work| first=Lloyd Steven |last=Sieden | publisher=Basic Books | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-7382-0379-9 }}</ref> Barry Katz, a Stanford University scholar who wrote about Fuller, found signs that around this time in his life Fuller had developed depression and [[anxiety]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/arts/music/15ster.html|title=The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|author=James Sterngold|date=June 15, 2008 |access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref> Fuller dwelled on his daughter's death, suspecting that it was connected with the Fullers' damp and drafty living conditions.<ref name="Sieden-1989-Buckminster-Fuller's-Universe" /> This provided motivation for Fuller's involvement in [[Stockade Building System]]s, a business which aimed to provide affordable, efficient housing.<ref name="Sieden-1989-Buckminster-Fuller's-Universe" />

In 1927, at age 32, Fuller lost his job as president of Stockade. The Fuller family had no savings, and the birth of their daughter Allegra in 1927 added to the financial challenges. Fuller drank heavily and reflected upon the solution to his family's struggles on long walks around Chicago. During the autumn of 1927, Fuller contemplated suicide by drowning in Lake Michigan, so that his family could benefit from a life insurance payment.<ref name="Sieden-p87">{{cite book | title=Buckminster Fuller's Universe: His Life and Work| first=Lloyd Steven |last=Sieden | publisher=Basic Books | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-7382-0379-9 |page=87 |quote=during 1927, Bucky found himself unemployed with a new daughter to support as winter was approaching. With no steady income the Fuller family was living beyond its means and falling further and further into debt. Searching for solace and escape, Bucky continued drinking and carousing. He also tended to wander aimlessly through the Chicago streets pondering his situation. It was during one such walk that he ventured down to the shore of Lake Michigan on a particularly cold autumn evening and seriously contemplated swimming out until he was exhausted and ending his life.}}</ref>

Fuller said that he had experienced a profound incident which would provide direction and purpose for his life. He felt as though he was suspended several feet above the ground enclosed in a white sphere of light. A voice spoke directly to Fuller, and declared:

{{Blockquote|From now on you need never await temporal attestation to your thought. You think the truth. You do not have the right to eliminate yourself. You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others.<ref name="Sieden-p87-88">{{cite book | title=Buckminster Fuller's Universe: His Life and Work| first=Lloyd Steven |last=Sieden | publisher=Basic Books | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-7382-0379-9 |pages=87–88}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

Fuller stated that this experience led to a [[Epiphany (feeling)|profound re-examination]] of his life. He ultimately chose to embark on "an experiment, to find what a single individual could contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/automobiles/collectibles/15BUCKY.html |title=Design – A Three-Wheel Dream That Died at Takeoff – Buckminster Fuller and the Dymaxion Car |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 15, 2008 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Speaking to audiences later in life, Fuller would frequently recount the story of his Lake Michigan experience, and its transformative impact on his life.

=== Recovery ===

In 1927, Fuller resolved to think independently which included a commitment to "the search for the principles governing the universe and help advance the evolution of humanity in accordance with them&nbsp;... finding ways of ''doing more with less'' to the end that all people everywhere can have more and more."{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} By 1928, Fuller was living in [[Greenwich Village]] and spending much of his time at the popular café [[Romany Marie]]'s,<ref name="HaberGlueck">{{cite web |url= http://www.haberarts.com/fuller.htm |title= Before Buckyballs: Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi |author-link= John Haber |first=John |last= Haber |website=Haber's Arts Reviews}}<br /> See also: {{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/19/arts/design/19nogu.html |title= The Architect and the Sculptor: A Friendship of Ideas |first= Grace |last=Glueck |author-link=Grace Glueck |newspaper=The New York Times |date= May 19, 2006 | access-date=April 27, 2010}}</ref> where he had spent an evening in conversation with Marie and [[Eugene O'Neill]] several years earlier.<ref name="Sieden-p74">Lloyd Steven Sieden. ''Buckminster Fuller's Universe: His Life and Work'' (pp.&nbsp;74, 119–142). New York: [[Perseus Books Group]], 2000. {{ISBN|0-7382-0379-3}}. p.&nbsp;74: "Although O'Neill soon became well known as a major American playwright, it was Romany Marie who would significantly influence Bucky, becoming his close friend and confidante during the most difficult years of his life."</ref> Fuller accepted a job decorating the interior of the café in exchange for meals,<ref name="HaberGlueck"/> giving informal lectures several times a week,<ref name="Sieden-p74"/><ref name="Haskell">{{cite web|url=http://www.kgbbar.com/lit/features/buckminster_ful.html |title=Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi |first=John |last=Haskell |work=Kraine Gallery Bar Lit, Fall 2007 |access-date=April 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513065703/http://www.kgbbar.com/lit/features/buckminster_ful.html |archive-date=May 13, 2008 }}</ref> and models of the [[Dymaxion house]] were exhibited at the café. [[Isamu Noguchi]] arrived during 1929—[[Constantin Brâncuși]], an old friend of Marie's,<ref name="Biography">{{cite book |author-link=Robert Schulman (journalist) |first=Robert |last=Schulman |title=Romany Marie: The Queen of Greenwich Village |pages=85–86, 109–110 |location=[[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] |publisher=Butler Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-884532-74-0}}</ref> had directed him there<ref name="HaberGlueck"/>—and Noguchi and Fuller were soon collaborating on several projects,<ref name="Haskell"/><ref name="Interview">{{cite web |url= http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/tranSCRIPTs/noguch73.htm |title= Interview with Isamu Noguchi conducted by Paul Cummings at Noguchi's studio in Long Island City, Queens |date=November 7, 1973 |work=[[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]] Archives of American Art}}</ref> including the modeling of the [[Dymaxion car]] based on recent work by [[Aurel Persu]].<ref name="Gorman">{{cite web |url= http://hotgates.stanford.edu/Bucky/dymaxion/noguchi.htm |title= Passenger Files: Isamu Noguchi, 1904–1988 |first= Michael John |last= Gorman |work= Towards a cultural history of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Car |publisher= [[Stanford University|Stanford]] Humanities Lab |date= March 12, 2002 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070613214749/http://hotgates.stanford.edu/Bucky/dymaxion/noguchi.htm |archive-date= June 13, 2007 |df= mdy-all }} Includes several images.</ref> It was the beginning of their lifelong friendship.

=== Geodesic domes ===

Fuller taught at [[Black Mountain College]] in [[North Carolina]] during the summers of 1948 and 1949,<ref name="ExhibitBMC">{{cite web|url=http://blackmountaincollege.org/content/view/45/60/ |title=IDEAS + INVENTIONS: Buckminster Fuller and Black Mountain College, July 15 – November 26, 2005 |work=Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center |date=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115004344/http://blackmountaincollege.org/content/view/45/60/ |archive-date=January 15, 2009 }}</ref> serving as its Summer Institute director in 1949. Fuller had been shy and withdrawn, but he was persuaded to participate in a theatrical performance of [[Erik Satie|Erik Satie's]] ''[[Le piège de Méduse]]'' produced by [[John Cage]], who was also teaching at Black Mountain. During rehearsals, under the tutelage of [[Arthur Penn]], then a student at Black Mountain, Fuller broke through his inhibitions to become confident as a performer and speaker.<ref>{{cite book | last = Segaloff | first = Nat | title = Arthur Penn: American director | publisher = University Press of Kentucky | location = Lexington, Ky | year = 2011 | pages = 27–28 | isbn = 978-0813129761 }} Available as a .pdf at https://epdf.pub/arthur-penn-american-director-screen-classics.html</ref>

At Black Mountain, with the support of a group of professors and students, he began reinventing a project that would make him famous: the [[geodesic dome]]. Although the geodesic dome had been created, built and awarded a German patent on June 19, 1925, by Dr. [[Walther Bauersfeld]], Fuller was awarded United States patents. Fuller's patent application made no mention of Bauersfeld's self-supporting dome built some 26 years prior. Although Fuller undoubtedly popularized this type of structure he is mistakenly given credit for its design.

One of his early models was first constructed in 1945 at [[Bennington College]] in Vermont, where he lectured often. Although Bauersfeld's dome could support a full skin of concrete it was not until 1949 that Fuller erected a geodesic dome building that could sustain its own weight with no practical limits. It was {{convert|4.3|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} in diameter and constructed of aluminium aircraft tubing and a vinyl-plastic skin, in the form of an [[icosahedron]]. To prove his design, Fuller suspended from the structure's framework several students who had helped him build it. The U.S. government recognized the importance of this work, and employed his firm Geodesics, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina to make small domes for the [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]]. Within a few years, there were thousands of such domes around the world.

{{for|the [[structural]] principle, based on [[compression (physical)|compression]] and [[tension (mechanics)|tension]], named by Fuller in the 1960s|Tensegrity}}
Fuller's first "continuous tension – discontinuous compression" geodesic dome (full sphere in this case) was constructed at the [[University of Oregon]] Architecture School in 1959 with the help of students.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Dymaxion world of Buckminster Fuller |first1=Robert W. |last1=Marks |first2=R. Buckminster |last2=Fuller |location=Garden City, N.Y. |publisher=Anchor Books |year=1973 |isbn=978-0-385-01804-3 | page=169 }}</ref> These continuous tension – discontinuous compression structures featured single force compression members (no flexure or bending moments) that did not touch each other and were 'suspended' by the tensional members.

=== Dymaxion Chronofile ===

[[File:Dymaxion-auto Bilbao Spain.jpg|right|thumb|220px|A 1933 Dymaxion prototype]]
For half of a century, Fuller developed many ideas, designs, and inventions, particularly regarding practical, inexpensive shelter and transportation. He documented his life, philosophy, and ideas scrupulously by a daily diary (later called the ''[[Dymaxion Chronofile]]''), and by twenty-eight publications. Fuller financed some of his experiments with inherited funds, sometimes augmented by funds invested by his collaborators, one example being the [[Dymaxion car]] project.

=== World stage ===

[[File:Biosphère Montréal.jpg|right|thumb|220px|The [[Montreal Biosphère]] by Buckminster Fuller, 1967]]
[[File:Preserved R Buckminster Fuller and Anne Hewlitt Dome Home.jpg|right|thumb|220px|[[R. Buckminster Fuller and Anne Hewlett Dome Home|Fuller's home]] in [[Carbondale, Illinois]]]]

International recognition began with the success of huge [[geodesic dome]]s during the 1950s. Fuller lectured at [[North Carolina State University]] in Raleigh in 1949, where he met James Fitzgibbon, who would become a close friend and colleague. Fitzgibbon was director of Geodesics, Inc. and Synergetics, Inc. the first licensees to design geodesic domes. Thomas C. Howard was lead designer, architect, and engineer for both companies. [[Richard Lewontin]], a new faculty member in [[population genetics]] at North Carolina State University, provided Fuller with computer calculations for the lengths of the domes' edges.<ref>{{cite journal | author=Jerry Coyne and Steve Jones| title = 1994 Sewall Wright Award: Richard C. Lewontin|  year = 1995| journal = The American Naturalist| volume = 146| issue = 1 | pages=front matter  |  jstor=2463033 | publisher = University of Chicago Press }}</ref>

Fuller began working with architect [[Shoji Sadao]]<ref name="wrsc.org"/> in 1954, together designing a hypothetical [[Dome over Manhattan]] in 1960, and in 1964 they co-founded the architectural firm Fuller & Sadao Inc., whose first project was to design the large [[geodesic dome]] for the [[Montreal Biosphere|U.S. Pavilion]] at [[Expo 67]] in Montreal.<ref name="wrsc.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.wrsc.org/people/shoji-sadao |title=Shoji Sadao |work=World Resource Simulation Center |year=2016 |access-date=January 11, 2016 |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407001337/http://www.wrsc.org/people/shoji-sadao |url-status=dead }}</ref>  This building is now the "[[Montreal Biosphère]]".
In 1962, the artist and searcher [[John McHale (artist)|John McHale]] wrote the first monograph on Fuller, published by George Braziller in New York.

After employing several [[Southern Illinois University Carbondale]] (SIU) graduate students to rebuild his models following an apartment fire in the summer of 1959, Fuller was recruited by longtime friend Harold Cohen to serve as a [[research professor]] of "design science exploration" at the institution's School of Art and Design. According to SIU architecture professor Jon Davey, the position was "unlike most faculty appointments&nbsp;... more a celebrity role than a teaching job" in which Fuller offered few courses and was only stipulated to spend two months per year on campus.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://thesouthern.com/news/local/education/fifty-years-of-fuller-siu-carbondale-celebrates-iconic-architect-futurist/article_e1fe8aca-036b-551f-bf86-43099b0c0094.html|title=Fifty years of Fuller: SIU Carbondale celebrates iconic architect, futurist|first=Gabriel|last=Neely-Streit|website=The Southern|date=February 6, 2019 }}</ref> Nevertheless, his time in Carbondale was "extremely productive", and Fuller was promoted to university professor in 1968 and distinguished university professor in 1972.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqLgDQAAQBAJ&q=buckminster+fuller+southern+illinois+university|title=Richard Buckminster Fuller Basic Biography|date=January 23, 1973 |publisher=Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller}}</ref><ref name="auto1"/>

Working as a designer, scientist, developer, and writer, he continued to lecture for many years around the world. He collaborated at SIU with [[John McHale (artist)|John McHale]]. In 1965, they inaugurated the World Design Science Decade (1965 to 1975) at the meeting of the [[International Union of Architects]] in Paris, which was, in Fuller's own words, devoted to "applying the principles of science to solving the problems of humanity."

From 1972 until retiring as university professor emeritus in 1975, Fuller held a joint appointment at [[Southern Illinois University Edwardsville]], where he had designed the dome for the campus Religious Center in 1971.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.siue.edu/maps/tour/center-spirituality-sustainability.shtml |title=The Center for Spirituality & Sustainability |publisher=Siue.edu |access-date=October 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313014223/http://www.siue.edu/maps/tour/center-spirituality-sustainability.shtml |archive-date=March 13, 2013 }}</ref> During this period, he also held a joint fellowship at a consortium of [[Philadelphia]]-area institutions, including the [[University of Pennsylvania]], [[Bryn Mawr College]], [[Haverford College]], [[Swarthmore College]], and the [[University City Science Center]]; as a result of this affiliation, the University of Pennsylvania appointed him university professor emeritus in 1975.<ref name="auto"/>

Fuller believed human societies would soon rely mainly on [[renewable sources of energy]], such as solar- and wind-derived electricity. He hoped for an age of "omni-successful education and sustenance of all humanity."  Fuller referred to himself as "the property of universe" and during one radio interview he gave later in life, declared himself and his work "the property of all humanity."  For his lifetime of work, the [[American Humanist Association]] named him the 1969 Humanist of the Year.

In 1976, Fuller was a key participant at [[UN Habitat I]], the first UN forum on human settlements.

=== Last filmed appearance ===

Fuller was interviewed on film on June 21, 1983, in which he spoke at [[Norman Foster]]'s Royal Gold Medal for architecture ceremony.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJC8KYNB7Uk&t=4104 Norman Foster – Royal Gold Medal Presentation] YouTube, March 26, 2015.</ref> His speech can be watched in the archives of the AA School of Architecture, in which he spoke after Sir [[Robert Sainsbury]]'s introductory speech and Foster's keynote address.

{{Clear}}In May, 1983 Buckminster Fuller participated in an interview with futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard. The hour-long DVD, "Our Spiritual Experience: A Conversation with Buckminster Fuller and Barbara Marx Hubbard" was produced by David L. Smith and was hosted by Michael Toms of New Dimensions Radio. The program was recorded at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. It can be viewed at Spiritual Visionaries.com, a new website expected to go "public" in February, 2025.[David L. Smith Productions]

=== Death ===

[[File:Bucky TRIMTAB.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Gravestone (see [[Trim tab#As a metaphor|Trim tab]])]]

In the year of his death, Fuller described himself as follows:
{{Blockquote|'''Guinea Pig B:'''<br />
I am now close to 88 and I am confident that the only thing important about me is that I am an average healthy human. I am also a living case history of a thoroughly documented, half-century, search-and-research project designed to discover what, if anything, an unknown, moneyless individual, with a dependent wife and newborn child, might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity that could not be accomplished by great nations, great religions or private enterprise, no matter how rich or powerfully armed.<ref name="Inventions">{{Cite book |title=Inventions: The Patented Works of R. Buckminster Fuller |last=Fuller |first=R. Buckminster |date=1983 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |page=vii}}</ref>}}

Fuller died on July 1, 1983, 11 days before his 88th birthday.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krebs |first=Albin |date=1983-07-03 |title=R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER, FUTURIST INVENTOR, DIES AT 87 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/03/obituaries/r-buckminster-fuller-futurist-inventor-dies-at-87.html |access-date=2023-07-03 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> During the period leading up to his death, his wife had been lying comatose in a Los Angeles hospital<!-- What was the name of this hospital? -->, dying of cancer. It was while visiting her there that he exclaimed, at a certain point: "She is squeezing my hand!" He then stood up, had a heart attack, and died an hour later, at age 87. His wife of 66 years died 36 hours later. They are buried in [[Mount Auburn Cemetery]] in Cambridge, Massachusetts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) {{!}} Mount Auburn Cemetery |url=https://www.mountauburn.org/r-buckminster-fuller-1895-1983/ |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=www.mountauburn.org |archive-date=July 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703172857/https://www.mountauburn.org/r-buckminster-fuller-1895-1983/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>