The 21st Show

Best of: ‘Inventor of the Future’ sketches complicated portrait of Buckminster Fuller

Produced by Brian Mackey
 
R. Buckminster Fuller, left, with students in Carbondale in 1971. Then a professor at Southern Illinois University, his office was just off campus. A new biography reports

R. Buckminster Fuller, left, with students in Carbondale in 1971. Then a professor at Southern Illinois University, his office was just off campus. A new biography reports "students liked him, but his lectures could be hard to endure." Jim Palmer/AP

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R. Buckminster Fuller was an inventor, architect, and futurist. He’s best known for geodesic domes — built with interlocking triangles. You can still see them today in Montreal, where one was a centerpiece of Expo 67, and at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center in Florida.

But Fuller was about more than domes. He saw himself as prophet for technology and how it could be put to use in solving poverty and other problems of humanity. But the reality of his life was more complicated — and troubling — than the mythology he presented to the public.

We were joined by the Illinois-based author of a new biography of his life to discuss the different facets of his legacy.

This segment originally aired Aug. 3, 2022.

GUEST:

Alec Nevala-Lee
Author, Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller

Alec Nevala-Lee, author of 'Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller

Author photo by Brian Kinyon

 

Prepared for web by Owen Henderson

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