The Buckminster Fuller Challenge has started up again and it's calling on all you crazy, passionate, genius-type people who want to change the world! Read on to learn a little more about the Challenge and about old Bucky.
Buckminster Fuller, one of the most famous and eccentric inventors of the 20th century devoted his life to becoming an aid to all of mankind. In his honor, the Challenge is held to bring his vision closer to its full potential. Fuller wanted quick, efficient and environmentally-safe change, and he wanted all of us to help in that pursuit. To add a little motivation—not that any of our readers would need it—the Challenge offers a cool $100,000 to help the winner implement the best strategy. Read all about it here.
Biosphere Panorama photo by Rene Ehrhardt
1. Fuller, though a genius by all accounts, managed to get himself expelled from Harvard not once but twice!
2. Taught using the teachings of Friedrich Frobel, widely thought to be the man who created the concept of kindergarten and also laid the foundation of modern education, Fuller was in good company. Frank Lloyd Wright, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian, and Helen Keller were all taught under this system. Seems it worked out for them too!
3. What do you get when you cross a zeppelin, a bomb, and a building? A…I’m not even sure. Bucky came up with the idea of carrying his lightweight, self-sufficient buildings by zeppelin. By bombing an area and creating a hole, he then wanted to "plant" the building and have men cover the base in cement. Don’t ever accuse him of thinking inside the box…
4. Fuller did not limit his inventions to building things. He even made up words! Creating his own lexicon, Fuller used words like “omniwell-informed, intertransformative, omni-interaccommodative, omniself-regenerative” and many more throughout his life. Read more here.
5. From 1974 to 1983, Fuller served as the President of Mensa. Take that, Harvard!
Bonus Bucky Point! We, like Bucky, can’t help but overachieve.
6. Bucky was the grandnephew of Margaret Fuller, a famous 19th century American transcendentalist, critic and women’s rights advocate. Greatness runs in the family, it seems.
Want to learn more about Bucky? Pick up a copy of Buckminster Fuller: Poet of Geometry by Cole Gerst in our store.
[1] Cole Gerst, Buckminster Fuller Poet of Geometry (Portland: Overcup Press, 2013), 14.
[2] Cole Gerst, Buckminster Fuller Poet of Geometry (Portland: Overcup Press, 2013), 13.
[3] Cole Gerst, Buckminster Fuller Poet of Geometry (Portland: Overcup Press, 2013), 29.
[4] “Buckminster Fuller.” Wikipedia. Accessed February 21, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller
[5] “Buckminster Fuller.” Wikipedia. Accessed February 21, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller
[6] “Margaret Fuller.” Wikipedia. Accessed February 21, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller