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A Tribute to R. Buckminster Fuller -- Inventor, Philosopher

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A Tribute to R. Buckminster Fuller -- Inventor, Philosopher A Trfbute to R. Budmdssater Fssller— Inventor, Philosopher !. Number44 November 2,1981 I first met Buckminster Fuller at my located in the University City Science apartment about three years ago. He Center. and his wife then lived in the same Fuller was born in Milton, Massachu- building I do. An ISP colleague, Beta setts, on July 12, 1895, the second of Starchild, told me that Fuller needed a four children, His mother was Caroline new office. The University of Pennsyl- Wolcott Fuller, and his father Richard vania could no longer provide space for Buckminster Fuller, Sr. The Ft.dfer his staff. Since we were plaming our family is known for strong wills and new buifding at the time, Beta suggested resoluteness. Among Bucky’s ancestors that Bucky could use space on the were many ministers, lawyers, and fourth floor of our building. A meeting military leaders. His father was a Boston was arranged to discuss this and to get merchant importer. He was the first better acquainted. We had previously FuUer in several generations who did been introduced at a press conference not enter law or the ministry. announcing the new building. I remem- One of Bucky’s more notable relatives ber my first impression of Bucky. He was his great-aunt Margaret Fuller, a lit- seemed like an elf: small, quiet, and fre- erary critic, edhor, and feminist. She quently smiling. A few of us later dined was a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, at a local French restaurant. Bucky re- and first encouraged him to publish his mained quiet unless specifically ques- work. She is also credited with discover- tioned. ing Thoreau. 1 After a brief negotiation, he and his When I first met Fuller he told me staff moved into our building. It is a that he was born hyperopic, or far- pleasure for me to tell visitors that such sighted, but h~ eyes were not corrected a distinguished scholar has hk profes- with glasses until he was four years old. sional residence here. I only wish that Until then, he says, he had never seen he stayed around more often. He travels the details of objects—only their out- more than I do and, alas, recently lines and general shapes. He contends moved his home to Caliiormia. that this early view of life is responsible Richard Buckminster Fuller, or for his still unusual outlook on the Bucky, as he prefers to be cafled, has world. Throughout his life, he has re- long been known as the inventor of the tained a penchant for concentrating on geodesic dome, the Dymaxion map, and the large shapes around him rather than the concept of “spaceship earth. ” Since the details. But I’m sure that Bucky 1972, he has held the position of World knows that hyperopia is not a universal Fellow in Residence at the University prescription for such a unique weltan- City Science Center. The position is schauung. now largely honorary, but Bucky con- FuUer’s Me has been every bit as tinues to keep his office at 1S1, which is unusual as his outlook on it. Although 296 My meeting with Buckminster Fuller, during the pre~ conference announcing the new ISI building in the University City Science Center, July 19, 1978. Also shown is Randall M. Whaley, president of the Science Center. he attended Harvard twice, and has 47 tect, inventor, mathematician, poet, honorary degrees, he never graduated writer, builder, philosopher, and scien- from college. He has held a number of tist. He has done a wide variety of things diverse jobs, from an apprentice ma- to earn such titles-invented, designed, chme-fitter in a cotton mill to a cashier. and built new types of buildings (con- During World War I, he served in the sidered by at least one author as art- Navy as commander of a crash boat work4), maps, cars, and chairs; created flotilk. With his fatherin-law, James his own system of geometry (with Monroe Hewlett, Bucky founded the models that biological structures were Stockade Building System in 1922. later discovered to follow); coined Their company manufactured a special numerous terms; written poems; devel- kind of building block. It was later sold oped water recycling systems; and in- to the Celotex Company. 1From 1930 to spired untold numbers of people with 1932 he edited and published Shelter lofty, long-range visions. magazine,z an architectural periodical. Bucky says that the real Buckminster Since the age of 33, however, he has not Fuller came into being in 1927, about worked in the conventional sense at all. ten years after his marriage to Anne He is continually inventing things, and Hewlett on July 12, 1917. When their currently has 22 patents (and three more first daughter, Alexandra, died in 1922, applications) to hk credit. He is the Bucky entered a major crisis period in author of 20 books and more than 60 ar- his life. Five years later, Bucky’s father- ticles. He has been called both a genius in-law sold the building business they and a crackpot.3 He also experienced had founded, due to financial failures. numerous financial failures. Bucky had never had much success as a Depending upon one’s outlook, Ful- businessman, and the new owners fired ler has been considered an artist, archi- hn from his position in the company. 297 The crisis cuhniiated for Bucky with terials needed to build it been feasible the birth of his second daughter, then, the house could have retailed for Allegra, the same year. 1 about $1, 50&not bad even for those Convinced that he was a failure, days. The term Dymaxion, wh~ch Bucky Bucky briefly considered suicide. He has adopted as his personal trademark, decided, however, that his life’s exper- was originally coined expressly for this ience was not his to destroy and that he house when it was displayed at the Mar- was only a failure as long as he kept try- shall Field department store in Chicago. ing to earn a living according to The term, a combination of “dyna- society’s rules. It was time to be honest mism,” “maximum,” and “ions,” is now with himseff and work according to his defined by Bucky as “the most-advan- OWII rules. And the rules he set for him- tage-from-the-least technology.”b self were simple: he would dedicate Unfortunately, the Dymaxion house, himself to improving the human condi- like many of Bucky’s inventions, was tion in any way he could. He was then ahead of its time. The idea of a house 32 years old. Today, 54 years later, hung from a pole was quite unlike any- F,tdler continues to pursue this goal. 1 thing else designed at the time, and the One of the first things Bucky did after materials needed to build it were un- making his crucial decision was to stop dreamed of in 1927. In The Dymaxion talking for almost two years. He World of Buckminster Fuller, a work he wanted, he says, to break hhnself of the wrote with Robert Marks, he explains habit of talkiig by rote. He intended, that the American Institute of Archi- instead, to be sure that he meant exactly tects so disliked his house that they every word he said. In a recent inter- passed a resolution concerning it: “Be it view, writer John Love described how resolved that the American Institute of Fuller was affected by these two years: Archhects establish itself on record as “He emerged from this period of monk- inherently opposed to any peas-in-a-pod ish silence a changed man. He set about reproducible designs. ”1 The Dymaxion to discover nothing less than the operat- house, due to its advanced ideas, was ing principles of the universe, and then the fwst of many inventions that earned to apply them to designs for new kinds Bucky the name “crackpot.” of shelter and other Me-enhancing in- The Dymaxion house, shown in Fig- ventions. ‘I decided to invest my lie this ure 1, was never built except as a table way,’ Bucky says. ”i model. But Bucky continued to invent. This process of discovering the grand In 1930 he produced the Dymaxion scheme of things has led Bucky along bathroom-an offshoot of his Dymax- numerous paths. He decided at age four ion house. The Dymaxion bathroom that the triangle was the basis of much was composed of four pieces of sheet in the universe, and many of his designs metal stamped out in a factory. When have evolved from that principle. One fitted together (a process which only of the first was his “4D” or “Dymaxion” took a few minutes), they made a com- house-a complete family dwelling plete single surface form that contained hung around a central pole. Mass-pr* a shower/tub, a toilet, and a sink. The ducible, it could be dropped in place by toilet used a special chemical system a dirigible, and moved at whim. The rather than water, and the atomizer house was completely automated: re- shower ran for ten minutes on a quart of frigerators and cupboards opened at the water, Bucky’s idea was to create a interruption of a light beam; clothes bathroom that could be easily moved were washed, pressed, and stored aut~ and installed-just like a refrigerator or matically; and the house was kept dust- a stove. Although about a dozen of the free by its air circulation system. Water bathrooms were built and installed,. the was recycled. And this, I should point manufacturer, Phelps-Dodge Corpora- out, was designed in 1927! Had the ma- tion, soon stopped production.
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