inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician, poet and cosmologist
In 1927, at the age of 32, Buckminster Fuller stood on the shores of Lake Michigan, prepared to throw himself into the freezing waters. His first child had died. He was bankrupt, discredited and jobless, and he had a wife and new-born daughter. On the verge of suicide, it suddenly struck him that his life belonged, not to himself, but to the universe. He chose at that moment to embark on what he called “an experiment to discover what the little, penniless, unknown individual might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity.” Over the next fifty-four years, he proved, time and again, that his most controversial ideas were practical and workable.
During the course of his remarkable experiment he:
- was awarded 25 U.S. patents
- authored 28 books
- received 47 honorary doctorates in the arts, science, engineering and the humanities
- received dozens of major architectural and design awards including, among many others, the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects and the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects
- created work which found itself into the permanent collections of museums around the world
- circled the globe 57 times, reaching millions through his public lectures and interviews.
He said
You have to decide whether you want to make money or make sense, because the two are mutually exclusive |
Reform the environment, stop trying to reform the people. They will reform themselves if the environment is right. |