R. Buckminster Fuller embodied "the geometry of thinking." He conceived of nature as the starting point for man's ingenuity, and his influence extends far beyond architecture.

Fuller designed the Geodesic Dome by combining two basic shapes: the sphere, for efficiency, and the tetrahedron, for strength. Using a metallic skeleton of interlocking triangles to frame his construction, he created lightweight spherical structures of remarkable strength and stability.

In following years, scientists in other fields perceived that the pattern Fuller devised to construct his dome existed in the designs of cells and chemical compounds.