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UNITED STATES COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP TO HONOR R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER - THE MAN (AND MIND) BEHIND THE GEODESIC DOME

WASHINGTON - Fifty years ago, R. Buckminster Fuller obtained the patent for his most famous invention - the geodesic dome, and next month the U.S. Postal Service will issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring the legendary American inventor, architect, engineer, designer, geometrician, cartographer and philosopher. Fuller's papers are archived at Stanford University, where the first-day-of-issue ceremony will be held in the Cubberley Auditorium, School of Education, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA, at 11 AM PT on Fuller's birthday, July 12. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

"Hailed as 'one of the greatest minds of our times,' Fuller was renowned for his comprehensive perspective on the world's problems," said Anita Bizzotto, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, U.S. Postal Service, who will dedicate the stamp.

Scheduled to join Bizzotto at the ceremony are Fuller's daughter Allegra Fuller Snyder, professor emerita, Dance and Dance Ethnology at the University of California, Los Angeles; Dr. Buzz Aldrin, astronaut, Gemini 12 and Apollo 11; Michael A. Keller, university librarian, Stanford University; Joshua Arnow, president, board of directors, The Buckminster Fuller Institute; Carolyn Johnson, reporter/anchor, KGO-TV ABC; and Scott Tucker, district manager, San Francisco District, U.S. Postal Service.

The stamp artwork is a painting of Fuller by Boris Artzybasheff (1899-1965). The painting, which originally appeared on the cover of Time magazine on Jan. 10, 1964, depicts Fuller's head in the pattern of a geodesic dome. Geodesic domes and a number of his other inventions surround Fuller, including the Dymaxion Car, the 4D Apartment House and several objects and models that reflect the geometric and structural principles he discovered.

Born in Milton, MA, in 1895, Richard Buckminster Fuller belonged to a family noted for producing strong individualists inclined toward activism and public service. "Bucky," as he came to be called, developed an early understanding of nature during family excursions to Bear Island, ME, where he also became familiar with the principles of boat maintenance and construction.

Fuller served in the U.S. Navy from 1917 to 1919, where he demonstrated an aptitude for engineering. He invented a winch for rescue boats that could pull airplanes out of the ocean in time to save the lives of pilots. Because of the invention, Fuller was nominated to receive officer training at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he further developed his abilities. In 1926, when Fuller's father-in-law, James Monroe Hewlett, developed a new way of manufacturing reinforced concrete buildings, he and Fuller patented the invention together, earning Fuller the first of his 25 patents.

Fuller's lifelong interests included using technology to revolutionize construction and improve housing. He designed the Dymaxion House, an inexpensive, mass-produced home that could be airlifted to its location; the Dymaxion Car, a streamlined, three-wheeled automobile that could make extraordinarily sharp turns; a compact, prefabricated, easily installed Dymaxion Bathroom; and Dymaxion Deployment Units (DDUs), mass-produced houses based on circular grain bins. The word "dymaxion" was coined by store advertisers and trademarked in Fuller's name. Based on the words "dynamic," "maximum" and "ion," it became a part of the name of many of Fuller's subsequent inventions.

In 1927, Fuller made a now-prophetic sketch of the total earth which depicted his concept for transporting cargo by air "over the pole" to Europe. He entitled the sketch "a one-town world." In 1946, Fuller received a patent for another breakthrough invention: the Dymaxion Map, which depicted the entire planet on a single flat map without visible distortion of the relative shapes and sizes of the continents.

After 1947, the geodesic dome dominated Fuller's life and career. Lightweight, cost-effective and easy to assemble, geodesic domes enclose more space without intrusive supporting columns than any other structure, efficiently distribute stress, and can withstand extremely harsh conditions. Based on Fuller's "synergetic geometry," his lifelong exploration of nature's principles of design, the geodesic dome was the result of his revolutionary discoveries about balancing compression and tension forces in building. Fuller applied for a patent for the geodesic dome in 1951 and received it in 1954.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Fuller was especially involved in creating World Game, a large-scale simulation and series of workshops he designed that used a large-scale Dymaxion Map to help humanity better understand, benefit from, and more efficiently utilize the world's resources.

After being spurned early in his career by the architecture and construction establishments, Fuller was later recognized with many major architectural, scientific, industrial, and design awards, both in the United States and abroad, and he received 47 honorary doctorate degrees. In 1983, shortly before his death, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, with a citation acknowledging that his "contributions as a geometrician, educator and architect-designer are benchmarks of accomplishment in their fields."

R. Buckminster Fuller died in Los Angeles on July 1, 1983.

To see the R. Buckminster Fuller stamp and other images from the 2004 Commemorative Stamp Program, visit the Postal Store at www.usps.com/shop and click on "Release Schedule" in the Collector's Corner.

Current U.S. stamps, as well as a free comprehensive catalog, are available by toll-free phone order at 1 800 STAMP-24. A wide selection of stamps and other philatelic items is also available at the Postal Store at www.usps.com/shop. Beautifully framed prints of original stamp art for delivery straight to the home or office are available at www.postalartgallery.com.


Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency, the Postal Service makes deliveries to more than 141 million addresses every day and is the only service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $68 billion, it is the world's leading provider of mail and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. Moreover, today's postage rates will remain stable until at least 2006. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume - some 202 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year - and serves seven million customers each day at its 38,000 retail locations nationwide.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Issue: R. Buckminster Fuller
Item Number: 456400
Denomination & Type of Issue: 37-cent Commemorative
Format: Pane of 20 (1 design)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: July 12, 2004, Stanford, CA 94305
Designer: Carl T. Herrman, Carlsbad, CA
Engraver: N/A
Art Director: Carl T. Herrman, Carlsbad, CA
Typographer: Carl T. Herrman, Carlsbad, CA
Existing Art by: Boris Artzybasheff
Modeler: Joseph Sheeran
Manufacturing Process: Offset/Microprint "USPS"
Printer: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. (APU)
Printed at: Williamsville, NY
Press Type: Stevens, Varisize Security Press
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 60 million stamps
Paper Type: Prephosphored, Type II, 225 PMU
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Colors: Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, PMS 7450 (Blue)
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): 1.085 x 1.42 in./27.559 x 36.068mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.225 x 1.56 in./31.115 x 39.624 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 7.24 x 7.12 in./183.896 x 180.848mm
Plate Size: 120 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: "P" followed by five (5) single digits
Marginal Markings: 2003 USPS " Plate numbers " Price " Plate position diagram "Buckminster Fuller ™ Licensed by the Estate of Buckminster Fuller. This license represented by The Roger Richman Agency, Inc." " Descriptive text on back of stamp " Four barcodes on back of pane
Catalog Item Number(s): 456420 Block of 4 - $1.48
456430 Block of 10 - $3.70
456440 Full Pane of 20 - $7.40
456461 First Day Cover - $0.75
456493 Full Pane w/First Day Cover - $8.15

 

 

 

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