R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER: 1895-1983

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

In 1927 Fuller designed the 4D house, for which the name Dymaxion (dynamic, maximum, and ion) was given by Waldo Warren, a public relations man with Marshall Field's department store. Among its features were the following:

[1] a round design meant to reduce the vacuum Bucky theorized must develop behind a building in the wind

[2] a gray-water filtering and reuse system

[3] solid-waste recycling for fertilizer

[4] solar energy for heat

[5] a low-flow shower head that was called a "fogger"

[6] air-filled beds

[7] weight so low that Fuller hoped it could be moved by air (something he didn't see happen until 1954).

On March 4, 1933, Bucky began building the Dymaxion car, which, in his mind at least, was to serve as a developmental prototype for a more ambitious aircraft. The first working model was an aluminum?skinned three-wheeler, with an aerodynamic teardrop shape that allowed it to travel at 120 MPH with a 90-HP Ford V-8. (At the time' most cars required at least 300 HP to reach that speed.)

The Dymaxion car received a great deal of publicity, and investors and workers alike anticipated a bright economic future. But Bucky had learned what he needed from the development of his theories and-in the face of considerable resistance from others?cast the project aside.

"I learned very early and painfully that you have to decide at the outset whether you're trying to make money or to make sense, as they are mutually exclusive.' "

Fuller's first book, Nine Chains to the Moon, was finished in 1937, but J.B. Lippincott refused to publish it because of a chapter devoted to Einstein's relativity theory. The noted physicist had claimed that there were only eight people in the world who were capable of understanding his theories, and Bucky's name wasn't on the list.

The aspiring author then requested that Lippincott forward a copy of the manuscript to Einstein, to see if that gentleman would be willing to expand his list. The reply came in the form of a request from Einstein to meet Fuller. After giving his approval of the disputed chapter, the respected scientist said:

"Young man, you amaze me. I cannot conceive of anything I have ever done as having the slightest practical application. I evolved all this in the hope that it might be of use to cosmogonists and astrophysicists in gaining a better understanding of the universe, but you appear to have found practical applications for it."

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print