Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Buckminster Fuller |
Buckminster FullerNoun1. United States architect who invented the geodesic dome (1895-1983). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Synonyms: Buckminster FullerSynonyms: Fuller (n), R. Buckminster Fuller (n), Richard Buckminster Fuller (n). (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller (July 12, 1895 - July 1, 1983) was an Americann visionary, designer, architect, inventor, and writer.
 |
Fuller became famous for his huge geodesic domes, which can be seen as part of military radar stations, city halls, and exhibition attractions. Their construction is based on extending basic principles to build simple tensegrity structures (tetrahedron, octahedron, and the closest packing of spheres). Built in this way they are extremely lightweight and stable. After getting a first patent for his domes in 1954, Fuller went on to explore nature's constructing principles to find solutions for designs in many areas of human life. He designed and built a safer, aerodynamic Dymaxion car, energy-efficient and low-cost Dymaxion houses (the term "Dymaxion" is contracted from DYnamic MAXimum tensION), radically strong and light tensegrity structures and much more. He also introduced synergetics, which explores holistic engineering structures in nature (long before the term synergy became popular).
One of Fuller's Dymaxion Houses is on display as a permanent exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. It has several innovative features, including revolving dresser drawers, a fine-mist shower that reduces water consumption and variable siting for enhanced atmospheric circulation.
His most lasting insights may be geometric. He claimed that the natural analytic geometry of the universe was based on arrays of tetrahedra. He developed this in several ways, from the close-packing of spheres and the number of compressive or tensile members required to stabilize an object in space. Some deep confirming results were that the strongest possible homogenous truss is cyclically tetrahedral, and all solids constructed of regular polygons, except the icosahedron, have a volume that is an integral number of unit-tetrahedrons.
Buckminster Fuller was one of the first to propagate a systemic worldview (see 'Operating manual for Spaceship Earth', 'Synergetics') and explored principles of energy and material efficiency in the fields of architecture, engineering and design.
A new allotrope of carbon (Fullerene) and a particular molecule of that allotrope (Buckminsterfullerene) have been named after him.
Fuller also coined the terms tensegrity and world around.
Fuller originated concepts explained in more accesable terms by K. Eric Drexler e.g. anticipatory design became design ahead: "The use of known principles of science and engineering to design systems that can only be built with tools not yet available; this permits faster exploitation of the abilities of new tools." [1]
Fuller was born on July 12 1895 in Milton, Massachusetts. He began studying at Harvard but was expelled from the university. He served in the US Navy in World War I. In 1927 at the age of 32, bankrupt and jobless, living in inferior housing in Chicago, he saw his beloved young daughter Alexandra die of pneumonia in winter. He felt responsible, and this drove him to drink and the verge of suicide. At the last moment he decided instead to embark on "an experiment, to find what a single individual can contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity." For the next half-century Buckminster Fuller contributed a wide range of ideas, designs and inventions to the world, particularly in the areas of practical, inexpensive shelter and transportation. Documenting his life, philosophy and ideas scrupulously in a daily diary and in 28 publications, Fuller was ultimately to be awarded 25 US patents and over 50 honorary doctorates.
His international career took off after the success of his huge geodesic domes in the 1950s. Now working as a designer, scientist, developer, and writer, for many years he also lectured all over the world on design.
On January 16, 1970 Fuller received the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects and has also received numerous other awards and honorary degrees.
He died at the age of 88, a guru of the design, architecture, and 'alternative' communities. It is said that while visiting his comatose wife in hospital, he said "She's waiting for me," closed his eyes, and died of a heart attack within 2 hours. His wife died 36 hours later.
His concepts and buildings include:
His publications include:
A discussion of his work on geometry and systems appears in
A Fuller Explanation by Amy C. Edmondson. Buckminster Fuller also appears as a character in Paul Wühr's book "Das falsche Buch". His former student J. Baldwin wrote BuckyWorks: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today (ISBN 0471198129)
Achievements
Biography
Concepts and buildings
Literature
Secondary literature
External links
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Buckminster Fuller."
Crosswords: Buckminster Fuller |
| English words defined with "Buckminster Fuller": geodesic dome ♦ R. Buckminster Fuller, Richard Buckminster Fuller. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Periodicals |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Expressions using "Buckminster Fuller": R. Buckminster Fuller ♦ Richard Buckminster Fuller. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
r buckminster fuller | 243 |
buckminster fuller | 178 |
richard buckminster fuller | 161 |
buckminster fuller information r | 123 |
buckminster fuller invention | 64 |
buckminster fuller picture | 63 |
biography buckminster fuller | 47 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-c-e-e-f-i-k-l-l-m-n-r-r-s-t-u-u" | |
-5 letters: turbulencies. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-c-e-e-f-i-k-l-l-m-n-r-r-s-t-u-u" | |
+3 letters: buckminsterfullerene. | |
+4 letters: buckminsterfullerenes. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)42 75 63 6B 6D 69 6E 73 74 65 72 46 75 6C 6C 65 72 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000010 01110101 01100011 01101011 01101101 01101001 01101110 01110011 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01000110 01110101 01101100 01101100 01100101 01110010 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)B u c k m i n s t e r   F u l l e r |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0042 0075 0063 006B 006D 0069 006E 0073 0074 0065 0072 0046 0075 006C 006C 0065 0072 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)36876977797580858671842408778787184 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Expressions 7. Expressions: Internet 8. Anagrams | 9. Orthography 10. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Note to the press & webmasters - this dictionary can be linked, indexed, or referred to using the following non-English expressions: woordeboek, fjalor, معجم, قاموس, diccionariu, речник, diccionari, diksyonario, diksinario, 字典, gérlyver, slovník, ordbog, woordenboek, shimiyuc p'anca, orðabók, orðbók, dictionnaire, wurdboek, wörterbuch, λεξικό, אוצר מילים, szótár, uqausiit tukingit, dizionario, 字引 , じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , 사 , dizionari, recnik, fockleyr, dikshonario, słownik, dicionário, dicţionar, dicziunari, словарь, lolomi fefiloi, foclair, abardair, faclair, briathrachan, pukuntau, leksikon, rečnik, vocabbulariu, diccionario, sí-chazamagâma, ordbok, lexikon, พจนานุกรม, sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, словник, довідник, có tính chất sách vở, geirlyfr, geiriadur, for dictionary; definisie, qartësi, përcaktim, saktësi, الوضوحية في الشيء, حد, تحديد, تعريف, التحديد, الإيضاحية, яснота, сила, очертания, дефиниция, 定義 , 定义, definice, deskriptordefinition, definitie, määritelmä, définition, ορισμός, "'"ר", "'בל", meghatározás, definíció, definizione, 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, 의, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght, definishon, definição, definiţie, determinare, definire, определение, definicija, definición, definition, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, чіткість, тлумачення, виразність, визначення, дефініція, ясність, чітка чутність, sự định rõ, sự định nghĩa, lời định nghĩa sự định, diffiniad, darnodiad, for definition; vertaling, transferim, transmetim, ترجمة من لغة أجنبية للغة الأم, ترجمة, إفتتان, транслация, огъване, превод, предаване, поддаване, тълкуване, превеждане, 翻译, překlad, oversættelse, translatie, taajuusmuutos, translaatio, traduction, oersetting, Übersetzung, μετάφραση, תור'מ ות, תר'ום, "עתק", "עתק, fordítás, traduzione, 翻訳 , へい"ういどう, やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, トランスレーション , やくじゅつ, ほ"やくしょ, 번역, tradukshon, tradução, translaţie, tãlmãcire, traducere, сдвиг, трансляция, перемещение, перевод, tumačenje, traducción, översättning, tercüme, процес перекладу, переклад, пояснення, переміщення, sự dịch, sự biến th nh sự giải thích, trosiad, for translation; |
