THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL INVENTORS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7

Assuming that there is in nature a vectorial, or direction-
ally oriented, system of forces that provides maximum
strength with minimum structures, as is the case in the
nested tetrahedron lattices of organic compounds and of
metals, Fuller developed a vectorial system of geometry
that he called “Energetic-Synergetic geometry.” The basic
unit of this system is the tetrahedron (a pyramid shape
with four sides, including the base), which, in combination
with octahedrons (eight-sided shapes), forms the most
economic space-filling structures. The architectural con-
sequence of the use of this geometry by Fuller was the
geodesic dome, a frame the total strength of which
increases in logarithmic ratio to its size. Many thousands
of geodesic domes have been erected in various parts of
the world, the most publicized of which was the U.S.
exhibition dome at Expo 67 in Montreal. One houses the
tropical exhibit area of a St. Louis botanical garden;
another, the Union Tank Car Company’s dome, was built
in 1958 in Baton Rouge, La., and was demolished in 2007.
This dome, at the time of its construction the largest clear-
span structure in existence, was 384 feet (117 metres) in
diameter and 116 feet (35 metres) in height.
Other inventions and developments by Fuller included
a system of cartography that presents all the land areas of
the world without significant distortion; die-stamped
prefabricated bathrooms; tetrahedronal floating cities;
underwater geodesic-domed farms; and expendable paper
domes. Fuller did not regard himself as an inventor or an
architect, however. All of his developments, in his view,
were accidental or interim incidents in a strategy that
aimed at a radical solution of world problems by finding
the means to do more with less.
Comprehensive and anticipatory design initiative
alone, he held—exclusive of politics and political theory—
can solve the problems of human shelter, nutrition,