I have only recently discovered the fascinating personality of Richard Buckminster Fuller. There was an excellent segment on CBS Sunday Morning a few weeks ago which unfortunately was not published to the web.
Wikipedia describes Buckminster as "an American architect, author, designer, futurist, inventor, and visionary" but I think you could even add a few more titles such as scientist and philosopher. Clearly, he was a creative man with a wide perspective.
From his Wikipedia entry, I learned that he is the most documented person in history: he wrote in his journal every 15 minutes from 1915 until his death in 1983, creating what turned out to be a 270 feet long journal. This includes records of nearly every talk and lecture he ever gave.
Also, for a time, he experimented with polyphasic sleep where he took 30 minute naps every 6 hours adding up to only two hours of sleep per day. The experiment lasted for two years and apparently ended only because his schedule conflicted with those of his business associates.
He got his start teaching at a small school near Asheville, North Carolina called Black Mountain College. (The school closed in 1957 but the campus has since been used for a Christian boys' summer camp and for art festivals.) Here, he developed the idea of the geodesic dome, for which he would become best known.
The geodesic dome has many favorable architectural properties and some say the only reason the domes have not gained widespread use is because they are too different from traditional structures. The Wikipedia entry, however, claims that domes are difficult to rain-proof, and that they have unusual air stratification and moisture distribution properties leading to accelerated deterioration of wood products. Buckminster envisioned the domes being used for low-cost housing as they are easy to erect and effectively protect against the elements (except, it seems, rain).
I have been browsing Buckminster's Digital Collection from Stanford University which has all kinds of freely-available talks and lectures. He has a unique speaking style and is at times very difficult to follow. He seems to ramble incessantly, but I have a sense that if you paid close enough attention, the ideas would all somehow tie together.
I'm not generally one for sound bites, but the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago has collected some truly great Buckminster Fuller quotes. Definitely worth a look.
And all this is only scratching the surface of his fascinating story.
