APPENDIX
28.1 HONORARY DOCTORATE CITATIONS
31954--1983
4 IN AN ERA OF INCREASING SPECIALIZATION, when the validity of intellectual achievement is judged in the first instance by an ever narrowing group of one’s scientific or scholarly peers, it is particularly interesting to consider the academic recognition granted to a man who is a relentless and thorough-going comprehensivist. Buckminster Fuller’s well-known determination to think for himself, to disregard the conditioned thinking of our inherited scientific disciplines in favor of direct contact with an intuitioned reality, unavoidably exposed him to the danger of being labelled a crack-pot by the scientific and educational establishment. Such social pressures in favor of intellectual conformism undoubtedly cause many young people to falter in their determination to think for themselves.
5 Thus it was considered relevant to include in this book the record of Fuller’s honorary doctorate citations. Written by members of various university or college faculties, these informed assessments of Fuller’s work serve as critical appraisals of the historical relevance, practicality, and relative effectiveness of Fuller’s only-apparently-foolish decision to disregard conventional conceptionings and think things through for himself. Like the record established by his patents, these public recognitions are an integral part—akin to experimental data—of what Bucky calls ‘‘Guinea Pig B,’’ his half-century experimental commitment to see what a single individual can accomplish without any organizational backing—including the organizational backing of our knowledge establishment.
6 It is Fuller’s hope that the public results of ‘‘Guinea Pig B’’ documented in this book will offer encouragement to the young world to persevere in its commitment to absolute intellectual integrity.
7 Michael Denneny, Editor
8 June 6, 1954
9 North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering
10 Raleigh, North Carolina
11 Mr. Chancellor, I have the honor to present Richard Buckminster fuller of Forest Hills, Long Island.
12 A native of Massachusetts, Mr. Fuller attended school in Milton and has been a student at Harvard and the United States Naval Academy. As a distinguished engineer, mathematician, inventor, designer, mechanic, writer, and philosopher, he has become one of the most influential and controversial personalities of the machine age. He has invented a new system of geometry; he holds the only United States patent for a new kind of map projection; he has written several books; he has published a magazine; he has developed the most radical cars and houses in the world; he has made a significant contribution to the study of housing as a crucial world engineering problem; and he has developed revolutionary new ideas of lightness and economy in construction never before conceived of in engineering and architectural thinking. As Visiting Professor and Lecturer in the leading schools of architecture and design throughout the country, he has exerted a dynamic influence on the creative youth of our time.
13 Because of these most distinguished accomplishments, I commend Richard Buckminster Fuller for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Design.
14 DOCTOR OF ARTS
15 June 11, 1955
16 University of Michigan
17 Ann Arbor, Michigan
18 R. Buckminster Fuller, author, inventor, and architect. Educated at Harvard and at the United States Naval Academy, whence he was commissioned in the regular Navy, he has since risen to a place of remarkable eminence in the art and science of architecture. In two world wars he gave himself unstintingly in the service of his country. As an author, he has published books in a variety of fields and edited a magazine. As a creative artist, he has become one of the most controversial and original intellects of our time. A new system of geometry was born of his thinking; he holds the only United States patent for a new kind of map projection. Applying his Dymaxion Theory, he has constructed automobiles and houses of a most radical design. He has developed revolutionary ideas of lightness and economy wholly new to the engineering and architectural world. Withal, he has found time to give unselfishly of his energy to creative youth in schools of architecture from coast to coast. Honor and affection have come his way in profusion. In 1952 he received the Award of Merit from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects; in 1954 the Citation of Merit from the United States Marine Corps, at Princeton, New Jersey. The University of Michigan is happy to show him its gratitude and affection, for as much as any it has benefited from an exciting personal contact with his genius.
19 DOCTOR OF SCIENCE
20 June 12, 1957
21 Washington University
22 St. Louis, Missouri
23 Mr. Chancellor, I have the honor to present R. Buckminster Fuller, author, industrialist, architect, prophet, and humanist.
24 Developer of advanced designs for motor cars, building equipment, long span structures, his geodesic structures house our far-flung arctic radar networks, and have become standard equipment with the Marine Corps. The State Department regularly uses his geodesic domes in foreign lands to demonstrate the highest achievement of American building technique.
25 I consider it a distinct privilege to present R. Buckminster Fuller for the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
26 June 17, 1959
27 Southern Illinois University
28 INVENTIONS
29 303
30 Carbondale, Illinois
31 Author, inventor, and architect; creative artist, controversial and original intellect; inventor of the dymaxion house and the geodesic principle of structural design; originator of a new system of geometry for architecture; holder of United States Patent for a new kind of map projection; developer of a revolutionary idea of lightness
32 and economy new to the engineering and architectural world; indefatigable in the service of his country in war and peace; vigorous teacher and lecturer, frequently honored for his genius and admired for his devotion to teaching youth in schools of architecture from coast to coast.
33 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
34 February 22, 1960
35 Rollins College
36 Winter Park, Florida
37 Richard Buckminster Fuller was born in Massachusetts in 1895. He was educated at Milton Academy, Harvard, and the United States Naval Academy. As engineer, researcher, and writer, he has held a wide variety of posts, such as technological editor of Fortune magazine, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fuller Research Foundation, President of Geodesics, Inc., President and Chairman of the Board of Synergetics, Inc., professor or lecturer at eight of the nation’s leading universities (Cornell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Yale, and others). He is an inventor of distinction; among his latest is the astonishing and revolutionary geodesic dome, which was one of the most exciting contributions to the American national exhibition at Moscow. His public recognitions include Doctor of Design, University of North Carolina; A.F.D., University of Michigan; Award of Merit, A.I.A.; citation, USMC; Centennial Award, Michigan State University; Gran Premo Triennale of Milano, Italy; Fellow A.A.A.S.; member, Harvard Engineering Society, and many others. He is author of Nine Chains to the Moon.
38 Richard Buckminster Fuller: engineer extraordinary; creative mind merging theory and thing into new and dynamic forms; fabricator of structures impressive for their useful immensity; weaver of mathematical systems beyond the range of the accepted and the known; determined practitioner of a technology that brought envisaged structures into being in spite of the inertia of skepticism and disregard; by the spoken word, and by written symbol you have gained widening authority as designer, inventor, innovator, teacher, administrator and leader.
39 It is with the profoundest sense of honor that by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Trustees of Rollins College I confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Humanities, invest you with the hood which from medieval days has been symbolic of the degree and bestow upon you all the honors, privileges, and obligations appertaining thereto.
40 DOCTOR OF LETTERS
41 May 30, 1964
42 Clemson College
43 Clemson, South Carolina
44 Richard Buckminster Fuller—creative genius, author and world-renowned lecturer—because, in quest of nature’s true design, you have explored extensively and discovered prolifically new forms and patterns, including, among many others, the geodesic dome; because you have left and are continuing to leave a heritage of simple and complex verities for immediate or future reference to the betterment of mankind; and because you have most effectively communicated and dramatized your innovations in the thinking process as an inspiration to thousands of students on hundreds of college campuses, I, by authority of the Board of Trustees, confer upon you the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
45 June 5, 1964
46 304
47 The University of New Mexico
48 Albuquerque, New Mexico
49 Engineer, comprehensive designer, scientist, inventor, and teacher, his prodigious intellect and abounding energy have added impressively to the progress of mankind. From his scientific and philosophical explorations have evolved such imposing and revolutionary concepts as synergetic geometry, dymaxion projects, and geodesic structures. Today, more than two-thousand geodesic domes—the world’s largest form of clear span enclosure—stand in forty-one countries as lasting monuments to his genius.
50 DOCTOR OF SCIENCE
51 August 22, 1964
52 University of Colorado
53 Boulder, Colorado
54 R. Buckminster Fuller—
55 To the world, a creative scientist who presents new interpretations of architecture and engineering and expands the vision of human responsibility, resources and potential; an educator who inspires through personal contact, example and published work; a globe-circling representative of the American people through invited consultation in scientific endeavor.
56 To the University of Colorado, a personal friend, consultant and extender of horizons in the search for expanded knowledge and the striving for greater effectiveness in the promotion of man’s betterment.
57 Mr. President, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the expansion of human well-being through understanding, creativity and education, I have the honor to present R. Buckminster Fuller for the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
58 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
59 April 24, 1965
60 Monmouth College
61 Monmouth, Illinois
62 Richard Buckminster Fuller, poet laureate of technology, author, dynamic dreamer, modern-day Thoreau, tireless traveler and lecturer, seeding your ideas in the fertile soil of the future; for much of your life, your advanced theories and inventions were dismissed as impractical by colleagues and critics alike. Now, dramatically brought to life through your geodesic dome, the Dymaxion principles you have shaped are bringing a new dawn to the world of design.
63 You are an anticipator of tomorrow, a technological liberator of mankind, inspired and exhilarated by man’s potential to free himself through the use of anticipatory design. You are—as you, yourself, have said—not a thing, a noun, ‘‘but …a verb, an evolutionary process; an integral function of the universe.’’ We at Monmouth College salute you.
64 In testimony of the admiration and acclaim which this College accords you, I confer upon you the degree, honoris causa, Doctor of Humane Letters.
65 June 7, 1966
66 Long Island University, Zeckendorf Campus
67 Brooklyn, New York
68 In Nature, before any new species emerges and takes root in the realm, a prototype of that species appears.
69 Twenty-first Century’s new earthman is already here in prototype in the person of Richard Buckminster Fuller.
70 Here indeed, in the chunky figure with sur-human cerebral prowess, and a dauntless imagination which has rocked our technology and sparked a scientific renaissance affecting the remotest reaches of man’s endeavors, we confront a human data processor, a mathematician, an inventor, artist, poet, sociologist, educator, architect, engineer and an inspired designer bent on making the whole earth enjoyable by all men.
71 For Buckminster Fuller’s dedicating himself as a one-man task force charging the outer ramparts and inner defenses of the natural enemies and scourges of man . . .
72 For his unveiling basic patterns in Nature and bringing new understanding of structure, of motion, of spherical geometries, tensions and synergistic forces in our universe …
73 For providing man with new techniques for the achieving of maximum quality of living standards through the use of minimal output of energy …
74 For his broadening and extending the scope and vocabulary of modem scientific and technological language …
75 For his compilation of a world resources inventory and for firing and inspiring the scientifically inclined youth of all countries with a non-political comprehensive design initiative in hopes of making the world’s total energy resources serve all humanity …
76 For pointing the way not merely to a material utopia for man but for teaching and promoting the study, investigation and the improvement of the inner man by man himself …
77 For generally lighting the way to a better life in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries for all men on an order higher than ever before envisioned …
78 Long Island University, in fullest admiration for his contributions to mankind’s general welfare, invests Richard Buckminster Fuller with this high symbol of its esteem, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
79 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
80 June 10, 1966
81 San Jose State College
82 San Jose, California
83 Mr. Chancellor, I present for an honorary degree R. Buckminster Fuller.
84 Courageously defying tradition and patiently surmounting man-made obstacles, he has successfully pursued his independent course toward basic truths while outlining a new and brighter promise for the human race.
85 His life-long pursuit of knowledge, spurred by a deep love of humanity, has exemplified the finest in the scholar, teacher, inventor, scientist, engineer, mathematician, architect, cartographer and designer.
86 His demonstrated triumphs in these varied endeavors emphasize the kinship of all knowledge. They are also a testimonial to his abiding faith in ultimate peace and in the rich destiny of mankind—a faith which he not only has enthusiastically stimulated in his students but also personally transmitted throughout the world.
87 From practicality, he has created beauty; from despair he has brought hope.
88 For these notable achievements—and fittingly also for his contributions as a visiting lecturer at San Jose State College—we salute him and proudly present him for the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters to be conferred by the California State Colleges.
89 DOCTOR OF FINE ARTS
90 June 11, 1966
91 California College of Arts and Crafts
92 Oakland, California
93 In recognition of his contribution to our world of a vision of a finer way of life; for his efforts to bring it about; for the courage and generosity of spirit that guide his work as architect, engineer, mathematician, inventor, philosopher and teacher; and for his inspiration to those who in future years may also become dedicated and valued ‘‘world citizens’’;
94 The Board of Trustees of the California College of Arts and Crafts is proud to confer upon Mr. R. Buckminster Fuller the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.
95 June 4, 1967
96 INVENTIONS
97 306
98 Clarkson College of Technology
99 Potsdam, New York
100 R. Buckminster Fuller—inspired thinker, creator, master of design. A native of Massachusetts, Buckminster Fuller is a descendant of strong-minded New England individualists dedicated for generations to the law and to the ministry. He has combined these interests of his forbears in the search for structure and order in Nature. His genius for seeing new and different relationships has led to applications which are changing technology and its social implications and, indeed, may drastically alter the techniques, role, and scope of education.
101 He has achieved honor and fame for his geodesic dome, which has been termed ‘‘an elegant modern miracle of spatial splendor and structural economy.’’ His design symbolizes this nation’s creative genius at The Universal and International Exhibition of 1967 at Montreal, Canada.
102 We of Clarkson College honor R. Buckminster Fuller for this achievement, but also because he has long been an advanced thinker in his field—a poet of technology who has sought to bridge the gap between the humanities and the sciences. We honor him because the edifice of his own being is a tetrahedron of intelligence, energy, and design based upon social responsibility and faith in mankind. This has enabled him to stand steadfast through adversity and neglect, pondering fundamental questions and seeking the pattern of nature amidst the detail to bring about for mankind new and useful structures. We honor him because, at 71 years of age, he is an optimist who finds in youth a promise for man’s future. We honor him, finally, because he is a citizen of the world dedicated to the service of mankind through the application of technology, the purpose for which this College stands.
103 DOCTOR OF FINE ARTS
104 May 19, 1968
105 Ripon College
106 Ripon, Wisconsin
107 Mr. President, I have the honor to present Buckminster Fuller, candidate for the degree Doctor of Fine Arts.
108 Mr. Fuller was born in Milton, Massachusetts, in 1895 and there attended Milton Academy from 1904 to 1913. Following two years of study at Harvard University, he served an apprenticeship with Armour and Co. in New York City until 1917, when he spent a year at the United States Naval Academy and was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy.
109 The year 1927 marked a turning point in Mr. Fuller’s career. From this time to the present, he was to direct his energies to the development and synthesizing of his theories of comprehensive design. This year saw the invention of the now famed Dymaxion House, which defined his ultimate goal of finding ways of doing more with less to the end that all people everywhere can have more and more of everything.
110 Mr. Fuller organized the Dymaxion Corporation in 1932 and, as its director and chief designer, was to invent and produce such forms as the Dymaxion Car and the geodesic dome. From 1942 to 1944, Mr. Fuller served with the Board of Economic Warfare and as special assistant to the Director of the Foreign Economic Administration.
111 Following World War II, Mr. Fuller’s comprehensive concepts concerning environmental controls led to the wide acceptance of his mathematical and architectural principles through the use of his geodesic domes, from the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, to the radomes which dot the arctic Distant Early Warning line. In 1954 the United States Marine Corps cited Mr. Fuller for ‘‘the first basic improvement in mobile environmental controls in 2600 years.’’ His design for the United States pavilion at Expo 1967 in Montreal, Canada, drew worldwide attention and praise.
112 Mr. Fuller is a prolific writer. Over the years he has authored more than ten books dealing with a range of subject matter from architecture to zoology. He has written hundreds of articles which have appeared in both lay and professional journals. His journeys have carried him throughout the world, where he has lectured on a wide variety of subjects. In 1959 he was appointed Research Professor of Design at Southern Illinois University, a position which he holds today. During the academic year 1961--1962 he was the Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard University.
113 The honors which have come to Mr. Fuller during a life of great activity are of such number that to recount them today is almost impossible. He is the holder of thirteen honorary degrees from major academic institutions. He has been the recipient of the Gran Premio Award of the Trienniale de Milano twice, the Gold Medal Scarab of the National Architectural Society, the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, the Benjamin Franklin Life Fellowship in the Royal Society of Arts, and the Plomado de Oro Award from the Society of Mexican Architecture. He is a fellow and honorary trustee of the Institute of General Semantics and a life member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
114 Mr. President, I am honored to present Buckminster Fuller, the one man fully deserving of the title of the Leonardo of the Twentieth Century, candidate for the degree Doctor of Fine Arts.
115 June 16, 1968
116 Dartmouth College
117 Hanover, New Hampshire
118 R. Buckminster Fuller, you have gone your great aunt Margaret one better: she merely accepted the universe, you preach total immersion in it. And if any doubter should ask whether you really believe in salvation through such immersion you might well respond: ‘‘believe in it? Shucks, I’ve done it!’’ True, you call your kind of salvation ‘‘comprehensive design,’’ but let’s not quibble about words, you are a thinker who literally as well as figuratively rejects all walls—except, of course, those of geodesic dome design—and who believes that only as man ‘‘goes for broke’’ with his mind can he hope from here on out to win any hand in the human game. Few among us (indeed is there one respected other?) would dare say with you ‘‘I made a bargain with myself that I’d discover the principles operative in universe and turn them over to my fellow man.’’ How far you’ve gone in keeping that bargain no man today can know for sure, and that of itself is saying an awful lot. A friend of the human future, you as builder of that future are the first man of the twenty-first, or perhaps even of the twenty-third century to whom Dartmouth presumes to award her doctorate of human letters, honoris causa.
119 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
120 October 10, 1968
121 New England College
122 Henniker, New Hampshire
123 Inventor, engineer, mathematician, architect, philosopher, poet, and pedagogue—you who call yourself ‘‘cosmogonist’’ remind us of the power of the human mind to leap across its own stone walls and roam the pastures of the universe.
124 The great volume of your achievement has narrow academic foundations and sanctions. Your explanation of your expulsion as an undergraduate from Harvard ‘‘officially for cutting classes but actually for irresponsibility’’ and your subsequently becoming Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard reminds us that the turnpike to truth admits of many alternative routes, with perhaps him who travels cross-lots arriving first of all. It is no wonder that you consider ‘‘today’s educational process …totally obsolete.’’ In the New England tradition of honoring its critics, we hope that you will probe some of our educational obsolescence with us.
125 As many are more impressed with things than with ideas, you are probably best known as the dome-man; your geodesics threaten to cover us all. We are grateful for these and for your many other comprehensive designs which are, as you say, ‘‘finding ways of doing more with less.’’
126 But it is especially for your provocative, ubiquitous ideas that our Faculty has called you here. You continue to show us the fertility of wedding ancient principles and new technology when the match is made by fresh eyes and a clear brain. You obfuscate us with your analysis of the present and overwhelm us with your vision of die future. You have tried, not altogether successfully, to jolt us from our parochial ways of thinking and to show us ourselves within the context of what comes next.
127 We return you now to the twenty-first century—but not before New England College enjoys the privilege of awarding you her Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
128 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
129 October 14, 1968
130 University of Rhode Island
131 Kingston, Rhode Island
132 Inventor-discoverer of a new mathematics, energetic-synergetic geometry; architect of the widely used geodesic dome that grew of that geometry; geographer, developer of an original, more accurate method of mapping the globe; engineer; and creator of distinctive language—you are the 20th century’s highly mobile model of the universal man. Viewing the earth as ‘‘this little sun-orbiting space ship,’’ you have been able to see the world and all that is in it as uninhibited by pre-conceived ideas as is humanly possible. Indeed, you have carried to its ultimate the academic imperative to question and to seek, and in the process have become a non-graduate, non-conforming philosopher-poet—a dreamer of great dreams whose avowed objective is ‘‘humanity’s comprehensive success in universe’’ to be accomplished through the ‘‘do-more-with-less invention revolution’’ now in process.
133 We honor you today for your durable accomplishments in many fields, and we take pride in conferring the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters upon a New England individualist in whom the infinite capabilities of the free-ranging human mind are manifest.
134 DOCTOR OF ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING
135 January 26, 1969
136 The University of Wisconsin
137 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
138 308
139 The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee cites Dr. Richard Buckminster Fuller
140 For his vision and foresight in redefining man and man’s needs.
141 For his unique combining of engineering, architecture and the humanities to evolve a new means to problemsolution.
142 For his creating structures and enclosures of space that are giving physical and cultural form to the twentieth century.
143 DOCTOR OF FINE ARTS
144 June 2, 1969
145 Boston College
146 Boston, Massachusetts
147 DOCTOR OF SCIENCE
148 July 4, 1969
149 Bates College
150 Lewiston, Maine
151 Mr. President, it is my honor to present Richard Buckminster Fuller, Distinguished University Professor at Southern Illinois University.
152 There is no attribute of man more rare, more necessary, or more difficult to comprehend than the gift of original thought. Ingenuity, a very valuable but still far commoner quality, is often mistaken for it; but there is a difference between true creative originality and ingenuity that is as great as the difference between discovery and adaptation. There is also the difference that ingenuity, which derives from known principles, is usually recognized and rewarded; but the really original idea is slowly understood and often grudgingly appreciated, because it is strange to our custom and transcends our expectation. Thus creativity must find its full realization only in posterity, and one can now only guess what the future will conclude. It nonetheless seems likely that when the future compiles its small and awesomely selective list of truly original thinkers, it may include the name of Buckminster Fuller.
153 Born into a suburban Boston family of great tradition and propriety, Buckminster Fuller remained within the expected tracks to the extent of graduation from Milton Academy and matriculation at Harvard, but shortly thereafter his energetic and questing mind took him far outside the predictable pattern—into business and engineering ventures of great variety and daring, into invention and patent development, into architecture, and into mathematics, poetry, cartography, criticism, ecology, and philosophy. He is now probably best known as the architect of the United States pavilion at the Montreal World’s Fair, which brilliantly demonstrated both the scientific and aesthetic truth of his famed geodesic principle; but in the surging galaxy of his accomplishment this may eventually be seen as a relatively minor effort of a man who the distinguished astronomer, Harlow Shapely, once described as ‘‘probably the brightest man alive.’’
154 For a stimulating and distinguished career that includes contributions in many fields of knowledge, but especially for his discovery and articulation of general principles of structure and form, which promise to revolutionize architecture and engineering, and which may prove even to be revealing of some of the secrets of nature itself, I am honored to present Richard Buckminster Fuller, for the honorary degree, Doctor of Science.
155 INVENTIONS
156 309
157 May 8, 1970
158 The Minneapolis College of Art and Design
159 Minneapolis, Minnesota
160 To
161 R. Buckminster Fuller
162 The Artist—
163 whose studio is the planet earth
whose materials are the mysteries of the universe
whose goal is the discovery of Truth
164 whose motivation is Love
whose Legacy is a vision of hope for the future of man-
kind
165 The Minneapolis College of Art and Design is greatly
honored to confer the Degree of
166 Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts.
167 DOCTOR
168 May 24, 1970
169 Park College
170 Parkville, Missouri
171 Buckminster Fuller’s name has become a household word because of his forthright demonstration and perseverance in his belief that all men deserve to be recognized for their own dignity as human beings, and in his untiring efforts to ameliorate the lot of the human race through constructive thinking and implementation of his ideas towards that end.
172 Buckminster Fuller is a native-grown product of the New England Yankee heritage. His roots go deep and are alive, and what they support is straight and tall. As a youngster living on Bear Island off the Penobscot coast of Maine, he faced nature and man in both their benign and often quarrelsome aspects. From these experiences there was inculcated in the boy’s mind—and this has been with him ever since—that we are part of the whole, that man is part of nature, and that the whole is good, if man but understand it and put himself in the proper frame of reference and act. Symbolic of this attitude and action was his youthful marvelling one day at the beauty and functioning of the jellyfish near his island home. This creature had a lesson which he grasped and put to use by adapting its principle of propulsion to his then daily task of ferrying a small boat across the open waters of the bay, thus freeing him to do something more appropriate to a human being.
173 There is ample record for anyone to examine of his activities and of the multitudinous honors conferred upon him. He is a man whose honors have come to him; they have not been sought. Laughed at, rebuffed, he many times rose to make the laughers take notice and his re-
174 OF LAWS
175 buffers come for counsel. Buckminster Fuller was a Harvard College drop-out who later in life returned there as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor. This is but one of the extraordinary academic encounters of the gentleman we seek to honor today. Buckminster Fuller is a balanced man who knows his worth—‘‘Who shall love thee if thou lovest not thyself?’’—He knows his worth: ‘‘I have learned much,’’ he writes, ‘‘but I don’t know very much; but I have learned, I have learned by trial and error. And I have great confidence in the meager store of wisdom I have secured.’’
176 Buckminster Fuller has been, and is, engaged in ‘‘Comprehensive anticipatory design science,’’ to employ his own definition of his metier. He is a hard-headed New England Universal visionary. The Geodesic Dome is but one example of this man’s vision and practicality. True to his great aunt, Margaret Fuller, of the Emerson Circle fame, he holds with her that
177 ‘‘the public must learn how to cherish the noble and rarer plants, and to plant the aloe, able to wait a hundred years for its bloom, or its gardens will contain presently, nothing but potatoes and potherbs.
178 Mr. President, on behalf of the Faculty of Park College, I present R. Buckminster Fuller, for whom we want to express our esteem by recommending that you grant him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
179 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
180 June 6, 1970
181 Brandeis University
182 Waltham, Massachusetts
183 richard Buckminster fuller—poet, prophet, pro-convictions and creations; cosmic yankee who discerns in
184 fessor, inventor and scientist; world citizen by dint of a regenerating universe the ideas and designs to re-
185 structure our future. His geodesic domes challenge architectural tradition from Okinawa to New Delhi, from Moscow’s World’s Fair to Montreal’s Expo 1967, exciting representations from an incandescent imagination that has transformed fantasy into reality and produced cars and maps and original ways of living bearing the enigmatic designation Dymaxion. With a vision that may yet redeem modern society, he has harnessed energies and resources so that all men living on ‘‘this space ship called the earth’’ may enjoy a fuller life.
186 310
187 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
188 June 12, 1970
189 Columbia College
190 Chicago, Illinois
191 We honor you for a lifetime of extraordinary consequence, dedication to the liberation of the human spirit, and the design of a rational environment.
192 DOCTOR OF SCIENCE AND HUMANE LETTERS
193 September 28, 1970
194 Wilberforce University
195 Wilberforce, Ohio
196 DOCTOR OF FINE AND APPLIED ARTS
197 June 13,1971
198 Southeastern Massachusetts University
199 North Dartmouth, Massachusetts
200 Richard Buckminster Fuller, because with dedalian wit and compelling finesse you have demonstrated the capacity to draw space from a very tyrant’s grasp and turn it to the elegant service of all mankind, Southeastern Massachusetts University acknowledges the debt owed you by people everywhere and confers upon you the degree of Doctor of Fine and Applied Arts, honoris causa.
201 DOCTOR OF LAWS
202 May 24, 1972 Grinnell College Grinnell, Iowa
203 June 4, 1972
204 Emerson College
205 Boston, Massachusetts
206 In an age when so many of our fellowmen have lost all sense of the past and comprehend little meaning in the present, it is heartening to find one who has not forgotten the heritage of history nor ignored the challenge of the contemporary scene, who has himself declared that, ‘‘we must save and incorporate into the social machinery of the new all that is incontestably of continuing value in the old and must make the equally incontestable validity of the new clear to the old so that we may join those old and new forces towards gaining the speediest and smoothest readjustment of society to acquisition of the new existence.’’
207 The sixth generation of your family in unbroken succession since 1740 to attend Harvard College, you have been honored by more than a score of sister universities and recognized by countless scientific and learned societies. As architect, builder and designer you have materialized your ideals and made real your creative visions. An artist who can double as an engineer, you have given us geodesic domes and geospheres. But above all, you have spoken the universal language of reconciliation and understanding, and not without reason are you intelligible to the young and the old, the simple and the wise, the tutored and the unlettered.
208 It was said of your chaplain grandfather that he ‘‘was a man whom we honor the more because in public and private, he was consistent with his principles,’’ and it was he himself who said, ‘‘I must do something for my country.’’ You likewise have these many years lived a life consistent with your highest principles, and it has been your constant concern to do something not only for your country but for all mankind.
209 DOCTOR OF SCIENCE
210 June 5, 1972
211 University of Maine
212 Orono, Maine
213 RICHARD BUCKMINSTER FULLER, architect, dreamer, wizard. Since the 1950’s you have carried out the highest ideals of the wizard’s trade—you have been sorcerer and magician, a skilled and clever builder, a wise man, poet and sage, and, above all a caster of spells.
214 The University of Maine honors you for your contributions to technology—those light and sturdy structures which are the trademark of a people who send their image to the planets.
215 But more than that we honor you for your prodigal ideas and energy and for the generosity with which you have filled and stretched the minds of a generation of designers, writers, and thinkers. You have charmed us; you have transformed us; you have worked your magic on us all.
216 R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER, in recognition of your contributions, the Trustees of the University of Maine have voted to confer upon you the honorary degree of DOCTOR OF SCIENCE with all the rights and honors pertaining thereto. Your name will be forever bome upon the rolls of the University of Maine.
217 DOCTOR OF LAWS
218 May 20, 1973
219 Nasson College
220 Springvale, Maine
221 Richard Buckminster Fuller is a true proponent of the concept of individual creative thought. Having divested himself of all forms of patterned thinking early in his life, he has devoted his energies to a remarkable series of inventions, discoveries, and designs. As mathematician, teacher, engineer, author, architect and philosopher, he is constantly seeking answers to the challenge of critical world problems. His realization of the urgent need for wise ecological practices and his untiring efforts in their behalf, far in advance of current trends, demonstrate his commitment to the future of our civilization.
222 May 25, 1973
223 INVENTIONS
224 312
225 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
226 Troy, New York
227 Richard Buckminster fuller In deeds, by example, as inspiration to your fellow man, you have fashioned a life serving the noblest aims of education. As teacher and lecturer you have shared your wisdom with young and old alike. As inventor and leader of industry you have contributed singularly to the comfort and progress of mankind. As an architect of international reknown you have fired men’s minds with a new understanding of our environment. For your creative vision, for your dedication to the enrichment of our society and our civilization, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute hereby awards you the honorary degree of DOCTOR OF FINE ARTS and causes you to be vested with the hood signifying to this degree.
228 DOCTOR OF LITERATURE
229 May 27, 1973
230 Beaver College
231 Glenside, Pennsylvania
232 Mr. President:
233 It is my privilege to present for the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature, Richard Buckminster Fuller—inventor, engineer, architect, scientist, philosopher, educator, futurist.
234 Born in 1895 to a distinguished New England family, Buckminster Fuller might well have become a proper Bostonian, a stereotype associated in many minds with the American tradition. Instead, he is the apothesis of another American tradition forged by such strong individualists—iconoclastics, if you will—as Emerson, Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller who saw the world with new eyes and fresh delight. Like them, Buckminster Fuller is an explorer and discoverer in the realm of ideas; like them he combines the visionary and the practical. Yet the comparison is limited, for not since the Renaissance has the world seen such many-faceted achievements on the part of one person. But even that analogy will not entirely serve, for in the space age, Buckminster Fuller’s wide-ranging imagination is not only global, but cosmic.
235 Beaver College is, of course, honoring Dr. Fuller for all his many and varied accomplishments, but difficult as it is to be selective, we are especially emphasizing today his impact on thousands of college students through his lectures and books. To the youth of America he has brought his optimism that what man wills he can do, and his vision of a future in which technology is harnessed in the service of humanism.
236 Mr. President, I present Buckminster Fuller, a man of the twenty-first century, who in accepting this degree is conferring an enduring honor on Beaver College.
237 DOCTOR OF ENGINEERING
238 April 27, 1974
239 University of Notre Dame
240 Notre Dame, Indiana
241 At an Academic Convocation Observing 100 Years of Engineering Education The University of Notre Dame confers the degree of Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa on a creative genius.
242 He began as an apprentice machine fitter, but was to have many more interesting titles in an intriguing succession of corporate neologisms—Dymaxion, Geodesics, Synergetics, and Tetrahelix, to name a few of his companies.
243 Inventor of the geodesic dome, author of fifteen books, designer of United States pavilions and foreign airports, holder of more than one hundred world patents, international lecturer—he is all these things, but more than their sum.
244 At the heart of his astounding career is a restless original intellect, probing always, asking the simple questions—‘‘Why?’’ ‘‘How?’’
245 May 13, 1974
246 Saint Joseph’s College
247 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
248 A modern-day version of the universal Renaissance man, R. Buckminster Fuller has given his creative attention to so many aspects of human understanding that his activities defy categorization. He is a mathematical genius, an engineer of rare and extraordinary foresight and a philosopher concerned with the most colossal problems of life and living.
249 A prolific writer, Mr. Fuller is the author of at least fifteen books and hundreds of articles on various subjects. He has been the recipient of no less than thirty-three honorary degrees and hundreds of other honors and lectureships, including a year’s tenure as Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard and his present position, World-Fellow-in-Residence for a consortium of colleges and the University City Science Center in Philadelphia. His works were recently featured in an exhibition at the Franklin Institute Science Museum entitled, ‘‘Bucky, The Fuller Man.’’
250 The holder of numerous patents on a variety of practical inventions, Mr. Fuller is perhaps best known for his invention of the geodesic dome. By now a familiar feature of the architectural landscape, geodesic domes have been used for the United States Pavilion at the Montreal Expo 1967 and for the United States Research Dome at the South Pole, among many others. The geodesic dome represents the successful application of a fundamental approach in all of Mr. Fuller’s efforts, to discover ways to do more things with less material and less effort so that the good things of life might be more readily available to all people.
251 Saint Joseph’s College is proud to recognize the universal scope of his wisdom and the practical effectiveness of his concern for the human condition.
252 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
253 May 20, 1974
254 University of Pennsylvania
255 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
256 A tireless seeker in the universe of ideas, Richard Buckminster Fuller has identified for us our spaceship, earth, renewing it through the imaginative form of fresh discovery.
257 Inquisitive and optimistic, he has demonstrated in his astonishing inventions a compelling vision of a rational mind-centered planet. His marvelous geodesic dome using linked triangles which through design construct a shelter of tremendous strength is an image of his belief in the power of human relatedness and comprehensive understanding.
258 This engineer, mathematician, philosopher, this architect and inventor, this poet of man’s hopes, defies all categories as he restores us to the future and stirs anew our energies. Grateful to their Leonardo, the Trustees of the University where he is a professor welcome a World Fellow to their sphere with the honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters.
259 DOCTOR OF SCIENCE
260 May 31, 1974
261 Pratt Institute
262 Brooklyn, New York
263 R. Buckminster Fuller, internationally-known architect and environmentalist, has come to Pratt Institute before as a lecturer and has literally packed the house. Pratt students have wanted to hear whatever he had to say on whatever topic he chose to discuss. A creative, future-oriented thinker, Mr. Fuller has equally full audiences wherever he’s been and he has contributed his ideas prodigiously in a variety of guises—visiting professor, lecturer, essayist, critic seminar director and principle speaker at institutions of learning throughout the world. Mr. Fuller also is the author of dozens of books on architecture and the environment.
264 The famous creator of the geodesic dome, Mr. Fuller today adds Pratt Institute’s honorary degree to some thirty-four others he has received from other colleges. He is also the recipient of innumerable awards from architectural organizations, honor societies, and architectural and professional societies all over the globe.
265 Mr. Fuller is distinguished university professor at Southern Illinois University and world fellow in residence for the consortium of the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College and the University City Science Center.
266 Mr. President, I have the honor to present R. Buckminster Fuller for the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
267 June 5, 1974
268 McGill University
269 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
270 Cum perspicuum sit constetque inter omnes eo consilio institutas esse dignitates academicas ut viri ingenio et doctrina praestantes insignibus honoris ornarentur prae-ter ceteros auctoritate Senatus Buckminster Fuller virum clarum et illustrem ne dignitate careret debita meritaque Doctorem Scientiae honoris causa renuntiavimus atque constituimus.
271 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
272 June 1, 1975
273 Hobart and William Smith Colleges, The Colleges of the Seneca
274 Geneva, New York
275 Future historians may well label 1927 the annus mirabilis of the twentieth century. A wondrous year it was—the year that brought us talking pictures, television, and transatlantic flight.
276 It was also the year that science and poetry were joyously wed in the mind of a remarkable man who decided on the shore of Lake Michigan that his life belonged to everyone.
277 You resolved that life should be neither a subject nor an object, but quite literally a project, a continuous throwing forth into reality of poetic intimations and scientific anticipations.
278 The truth of your impossible dreams has proved far more thrilling than any fiction. Above all, for the ‘‘young world,’’ your dreams are refreshing and efficacious antidotes to cynicism, nihilism, and other tempting philosophies of gloom.
279 Neither ‘‘cockeyed optimist’’ nor melancholy pessimist, you are in the best sense an enlightened and enlightening meliorist, totally persuaded that human destiny can and will be better.
280 There are no frontiers to your genius, no apparent limits to all the things that are dreampt of in your philosophy.
281 By authority delegated to me, I confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, and admit you to all the liberties, privileges and responsibilities thereto appertaining.
282 DOCTOR OF SCIENCE
283 September 26, 1978
284 Hahnemann Medical College & Hospital of Pennsylvania
285 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
286 Mr. President, I have the honor to present to you one of our world’s rare geniuses, unique in creativeness, unique in philosophy, unique in teaching and inspiration, and, above all, the insightful poet of the Universe.
287 My candidate was bornin Milton, Massachusetts in 1895, graduated from Milton Academy and attended Harvard University. In World War I he enlisted in the U.S. Navy; as a chief boatswain he showed such extraordinary qualities he was sent to the Naval Academy and was commissioned ensign, later lieutenant.
288 In a career spanning more than 60 years, he has risen from apprentice machine fitter to his current status as Emeritus University Professor at both Southern Illinois University and the University of Pennsylvania, and as World Fellow in Residence of the Consortium of the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College and the University Science Center.
289 During his many years he has circled the earth tens of times, has been invited to speak in many places on all continents, most often at schools and colleges, to instruct how to participate in Nature’s continuous reshaping of both the physical and the metaphysical. He has spoken personally, rather than by television and radio, face to face with approximately a quarter of a million persons every year and has fascinated and inspired many of them, especially the young.
290 His disciplines, penetrating insights, synthesized by what he has named ‘‘comprehensive anticipatory design science’’ have generated his unique, world famed creations—the Dymaxion House, the Dymaxion Automobile, the Dymaxion World Map, the Geodesic Dome and its multitude of species now spread over our planet, also a series of basic structural elements awaiting multiplication and synthesis, and a number of vast projects of astounding courage and easily comprehensible validity.
291 His eleven books consummate command of widest knowledge and principles, and often the principles are his own discoveries. The earliest title is Nine Chairs to the Moon; two of the subsequent ones are No More Secondhand God and Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth; the latest is And It Came to Pass—Not to Stay, a summing-up in blank verse.
292 My candidate’s comprehensive range and attainments are attested by: 39 honorary degrees, including one from St. Peter’s College, Oxford University; innumerable awards and distinctions from innumerable prestigious institutions and societies, including the Gold Medals of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects; and awards by such diverse organizations as the American Association of Humanists, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the United Nations. He has been Harvey Cushing Orator to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, International President of Mensa International, Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University, and was given many other rare distinctions.
293 His works have been exhibited, and have been built, in numerous places throughout the world. There have been more than 60,000 references to him in journals, newspapers, magazines, books, radio and television.
294 Dr. Likoff, by reason of his comprehensive, universal self and achievements, I ask that you confer upon Richard Buckminster Fuller, known affectionately everywhere as ‘‘Bucky,’’ the degree of Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.
295 INVENTIONS
296 315
297 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
298 June 8, 1979
299 Southern Illinois University
300 Edwardsville, Illinois
301 Born July 12, 1895, in Milton, Massachusetts, Richard Buckminster Fuller pursued his education at Milton Academy, Harvard University, and the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. After service with the Navy during World War I, Fuller engaged upon a career in business, while commencing his own investigations into the vast scope of natural interests and humane concerns: endeavors that led to the insights which have captured the attention of the entire world and led to steps of profound importance for the future of humanity and the planet Earth.
302 During a long and energetic career Fuller has travelled to every corner of the world, exploring ways to keep the environment habitable and amenable to the creative evolution of all the species that inhabit the universe, with a special focus upon transforming the arts of technology for human creative evolution. During his career he has written books of both prose and poetry, examining with vision and imagination problems and proposals that impact on every aspect of human activity. As a speaker and lecturer, he has acted as an unflagging voice of optimism and hope during a century of turmoil and anxiety, always providing special sparks of inspiration to young people, many of whom are now engaged in following up on his ideas and translating them into action. His work has been the source of widespread comment and study, to the extent that he has become nothing less than a pivotal figure in the intellectual, technological, and spiritual life of humanity in the twentieth century.
303 At the behest of former president Delyte W. Morris, R. Buckminster Fuller directed his interest upon Southern Illinois University in many significant ways. From 1959 to 1968, he was Research Professor, Design Science Exploration; Director of Inventory of World Resources, Human Trends and Needs; and Founder and Director of the World Game. In 1968, he was named a University Professor at SIU. From his home in Carbondale, designed according to his world famous concept of the Geodesic Dome, he was a dynamic presence to many of our students active in the planning phase of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. His influence is revealed most dramatically in the religious center on the Edwardsville campus. He has also offered a challenging overall plan for the future of the city of East St. Louis.
304 In consideration of a truly unparalleled record of achievement during a long, vigorous career, and his special impact on Southern Illinois University, it would be impossible to imagine a figure more worthy of honor by this institution.
305 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
306 December 7, 1979
307 Alaska Pacific University
308 Anchorage, Alaska
309 Richard Buckminster Fuller—planetary citizen, consummate catalyst and provocative teacher, wise recorder of the solitary individual and the universally human, intu-
310 of the world’s intricate and irreducible design, spokesman
311 J.
312 itive interpreter of cosmic design and analyst of integral operative principles, poet, philosopher, architect, inventor, author, inspirer of youth—beloved of children, respected by statesmen, sought by humanities’ leaders, and friend of a hopeful future, we celebrate your incomparable life, your unconquerable optimism about our human prospects, and your courageous invitation to make the world work for one hundred percent of humanity, in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.
313 Your life and thought orchestrates that global connectedness, that internal ordering and linkage our university aspires to prompt in its students; that human helpfulness and unfailing goodwill we covet for this learning community and the wider world it serves; that mellowed maturity and ever spontaneous newness of life we seek to renew in our common life daily; that reverence for all life and all forms of creation that mirrors a spiritual design and Divine artistry we would emulate in all forms of our faith and religious devotion, and that unassuming human joy and friendship that lightens the day and load of everyone privileged to walk with you.
314 For these, and so many other ways, you honor and embody what is best in this university, and every university established to understand and ennoble the distinctly human. Therefore, by the authority of the Board of Trustees, and on recommendation of our faculty, we delight to commend you for the Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
315 DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS
316 January 3, 1980
317 Roosevelt University
318 Chicago, Illinois
319 To Richard Buckminster Fuller: Geometer, Visionary, Seer; Inventor of Ideas, Tools, Technologies and the Terms to Assert Their Utility; Who Transcends the Disciplines of Design, Architecture, Engineering, Economics, and Ecology with an Integrated and Architectonic World View; Whose Work Gives Us Hope that Man’s Genius Can Surmount His Most Intractable Dilemmas; Who Teaches Us to Appreciate the Order and Rhythm of Space, to Seek Harmony in the Environment We Create, and to Plan Our Future on a Scale Commensurate with What Man Is and What He Can Become.
320 The Trustees of the University by virtue of the authority invested in them and upon recommendation of the Faculty, have conferred on Richard Buckminster Fuller the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters and have granted this certificate as evidence thereof.
321 HUMANITIES
322 a major thinker and seminal force of our time. He has been accorded such titles as ‘‘the universal genius of our age,’’ ‘‘the modern da Vinci,’’ ‘‘our greatest living genius and the anticipator of the world to come.’’
323 It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to bestow upon Dr. Fuller in the name of Georgian Court College the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities. A man born before his time and at home in every place, he has taught us to conserve our space and to preserve our time.
324 DOCTOR OF
325 May 17, 1980
326 Georgian Court College
327 Lakewood, New Jersey
328 Citation for BUCKMINSTER FULLER
329 Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa
330 Buckminster Fuller, a man born in the nineteenth century, has spent a lifetime helping to create the twenty-first century. The entire world is in his debt, not merely for major inventions such as the geodesic dome, but also for major philosophic impetus, long before the concept of ecology had become fashionable, toward conservation of space and of energy on this ‘‘Spaceship Earth’’ (the famous name he gave to our planet).
331 Author, architect, philosopher, inventor, futurist, he is
334 At his death, a few days before his eighty-eighth birthday, R. BUCKMINSTER fuller was perhaps the best-known American thinker alive. Sometimes called ‘‘the planet’s friendly genius,’’ Bucky gained renown as an inventor and designer of the Dymaxion House, the Dymaxion Car, the Dymaxion Map, the creator of the geodesic dome, the man who coined the term ‘‘Spaceship Earth’’ and organized the World Game, the mathematician who discovered Synergetics, and as a dogged individualist whose genius has been felt throughout the world for over half a century.
335 Jacket design: Deborah Daly
336 St. Martin’s Press
337 175 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10010
338 PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
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342 Some 40 years ago. I published, in Fortune magazine, some views about Buckminster Fuller’s pioneering work which suggested to me (fiat he was one of the most remarkable Americans in the latter years of the Republic-one of the few. the very few. by whom the greatness of our society would be judged. I am now convinced that this judgment fell short of the truth. If any man's life has reconciled our early spiritual achievements with our later scientific triumphs, it is his. And if there is a contemporary who truly knows what it means to be an American. Buckminster Fuller is that man.
343 -Archibald MacLcish
344 ISBN □-313-M3M77-H
345 SvA-.-'-'t'j*-..'..- • _• A. ■
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