In 1985, scientists at the Rice University in the US generated a new structural form of carbon and named it Buckministerfullerene after Buckminster Fuller, an inventor and architect. What did an architect have to do with chemistry?
‘Poet of tech’
The scientists named it Buckminsterfullerene (shortened to fullerenes or buckyballs) because the geodesic domes designed by Fuller provided a clue to the molecule’s structure, says the American Chemical Society. Fuller, dubbed the “first poet of technology” was expelled twice from Harvard and did not have an architect degree until he was awarded one as an honour in the 1960s
Geodesic dome
The geodesic dome, the most significant among Fuller’s inventions, is the only kind of building that can be set on the ground as a complete structure--and with no limiting dimension, according to Fuller’s protege E J AppleWhite
In 1954
Fuller obtained a patent in the US for his geodesic dome
Cheap and strong
The geodesic dome is cheap to make and requires no column for support. In fact, the US Marines commissioned thousands of geodesic domes that could be delivered in helicopters. As the domes could withstand harsh weather conditions, they were used as weather stations—from Antarctica to Japan