."A sailor, a machinist, a comprehensive generalist, a doer, a new former, a student of trends, a technical editor, a businessman, an angel, a quarterback, a lecturer, a critic, an experimental seminarist, a random element, a verb, a comprehensive designer, an inventor, an engineer, an architect, a cartographer, a philosopher, a poet, a cosmogonist, a choreographer, a visionary, a scientist, a valuable unit, a mathematician, an air pilot, a Navy lieutenant, an affable genie, a geometer, a maverick thinker, a gentle revolutionist, a lovable genius, an anti-academician, doctor of science, doctor of arts, doctor of design, doctor of humanities, an amiable lunatic, a prophet, the custodian of a vital resource."

Thus went Robert Snyder’s apt description of R. Buckminster Fuller, alias “Bucky,” one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable and prolific creators. Where language failed to accommodate his diversity of activities, Fuller coined his own term, calling himself a “comprehensive anticipatory design scientist.”

The polymathic nature of Fuller’s activities gave him an expansive outlook on the twentieth century. His enormous energy, his passionate interest in applying science to solve the problems of humanity, and his mesmerizing personality earned him fame if not fortune during his lifetime. Bent on developing inexpensive, mass-producible housing and transportation, he developed the Dymaxion dwelling unit and car, and later pioneered the geodesic dome. He also wrote numerous books including Tetrascroll, Critical Path, Synergeticsm and Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.

A prolific speaker, Fuller circled the globe numerous times, lecturing on design science and encouraging people to leverage humanity’s “option for success.” Over the years, he taught at various colleges, was awarded 25 U.S. patents, and received 47 honorary degrees in the arts, sciences, engineering and humanities. His ability, if not compulsion, to record all his activities resulted in a vast archive of materials (estimated 1300 linear ft), including 4,000 hours of videotape and the huge Dymaxion Chronofile, in which he documented his life on a daily basis from 1915 through his death in 1983. This extensive archive of one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable minds was acquired by the Stanford University Libraries in 1999.

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