Editing Buckminster Fuller (section)

=== The geodesic dome ===

Fuller was most famous for his [[thin-shell structure|lattice shell structures]] – [[geodesic dome]]s, which have been used as parts of military radar stations, civic buildings, environmental protest camps, and exhibition attractions. An examination of the geodesic design by [[Walther Bauersfeld]] for the [[Planetarium Jena|Zeiss-Planetarium]], built some 28 years prior to Fuller's work, reveals that Fuller's Geodesic Dome patent (U.S. 2,682,235; awarded in 1954) is the same design as Bauersfeld's.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.telacommunications.com/geodome.htm |title=Geodesic Domes and Charts of the Heavens |publisher=Telacommunications.com |date=June 19, 1973 |access-date=April 18, 2014}}</ref>

Their construction is based on extending some basic principles to build simple "[[tensegrity]]" structures (tetrahedron, [[octahedron]], and the closest packing of spheres), making them lightweight and stable. The geodesic dome was a result of Fuller's exploration of nature's constructing principles to find design solutions. The Fuller Dome is referenced in the [[Hugo Award]]-winning 1968 novel ''[[Stand on Zanzibar]]'' by [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]], in which a geodesic dome is said to cover the entire island of [[Manhattan]], and it floats on air due to the hot-air balloon effect of the large air-mass under the dome (and perhaps its construction of lightweight materials).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cjfearnley.com/fuller-faq-4.html#ss4.1 |title=The R. Buckminster Fuller FAQ: Geodesic Domes |publisher=Cjfearnley.com |access-date=April 18, 2014}}</ref>