“We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully, nor for much longer, unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody’

R. Buckminster Fuller (1969)

These were the prophetic words of R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) who was one of the Twentieth Century’s greatest polymaths. He was an American inventor, designer, architect, mathematician, author, entrepreneur, poet and most brilliantly a visionary teacher.

His most famous invention the Geodesic Dome can be seen all around the world; an awe inspiring example in the UK is the domes of the Eden project in Cornwall. However Bucky (as he liked to be known) wasn’t overly interested in the specifics of his myriad of inventions, they were merely a smaller part of his larger goal. In his own words: ‘My objective was humanity’s comprehensive success in universe.’ He wrote numerous books and received a vast number of honorary degrees. He has even had a new molecule named after him. To me it is very strange then, that most people have never heard of someone whom I believe to be the most important visionary of the last century, who posited real solutions to many of the severe problems facing the world today.