- circled the globe 57 times, reaching millions through his public lectures and interviews.
Through his extensive documentation of his experiment and its results, Fuller compiled data that indicated that by 1974, approximately one-quarter of a billion people had come into contact with some part of his work.
His name may bring up the image of his most famous architectural masterpiece, the "American Pavilion at Montreal's Expo "67, a 250 foot diameter, bubble shaped, transparent geodesic dome. For many others under the age of 30, a much smaller image comes to mind: the beautiful, perfectly symmetrical C60 carbon molecule, which he named the buckminsterfullerene. He called himself "Guinea Pig B" and dedicated his life as an experiment in problem solving and self dedication. Perhaps Bucky is best known for his applied futurism. His visions of the future was one that you can find the universe's secrets by looking at long term trends. He could then anticipate the problems resulting from such trends, and seek solutions to address them. Shortly after World War I Fuller thought about the largest problem humans would face in the imminent future, the problem of shelter, human's most basic and essential artifact. Coming of age in the midst of the technical revolution, he promised to solve the problem by using technology.
In Fuller's mind nature was the best example of how great technology had already been at work for millions of years. If we look at the way nature designs the universe, one can unlock the most powerful method of designing. This outlook can guide us to designing the objects that would make the world work for humanity. Nature's design is fluid, short-lived, and beautifully patterned. Nature's technology is dynamic, lightweight, and driven by a functional criticality - most favorable efficiency. .
Fuller had a vision where he saw technology was part of the natural world.
