I first learned of R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) when I picked up a copy of his amusingly titled book I Seem to be a Verb at a used bookstore near my college. "Bucky" was a green pioneer: he felt that his mission in life was to innovate so as to benefit the greatest number of people by using the fewest resources. He was perhaps most famous for inventing the geodesic dome, which is what prompted this post, but in addition to being a designer and architect, he was a philosopher, poet, visionary, engineer, mathematician, and cosmologist - and also drew a really cool map of the earth. An interesting man - and I just knew the story of his death would be unique. While he was visiting his wife Anne, who was dying of cancer and lay comatose in a Los Angeles hospital, he exclaimed, "She is squeezing my hand!" He stood up, suffered a heart attack, and died an hour later. His wife followed in 36 hours. Their deaths occurred 26 years ago this month.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Labels
- "Silence of the Lambs" (1)
- Abraham Lincoln (10)
- accident (60)
- advertisements (1)
- Afghan girl (1)
- Agatha Christie (2)
- aging (20)
- Aimee Mullins (1)
- airplane graveyard (1)
- albino (9)
- Albrecht Dürer (1)
- Alfred Butts (2)
- Alfred Eisenstaedt (1)
- Alfred Hitchcock (1)
- Alfred Russel Wallace (3)
- amputation (36)
- Amy Wynn Pastor (1)
- anatomical waxes (3)
- anatomy (96)
- anatomy theatre (3)
- ancient Egypt (19)
- Andrée Expedition (1)
- Andrew Jackson (1)
- androgyny (1)
- Angkor Wat (1)
- animals (659)
- animals. weird news (2)
- Anne Frank (1)
- anthropodermic binding (3)
- Anthropodermic books (1)
- Antiques Roadshow (1)
- Archaeology (110)
- architecture (71)
- Arcosanti (1)
- Art (51)
- Art Aufderheide (1)
- Arthur Fiedler (1)
- assassination (6)
- Astronomy (5)
- atavism (1)
- Athanasius Kircher (1)
- Auctions (8)
- Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1)
- Aung San Suu Kyi (1)
- aurora (1)
- Auschwitz (1)
- automata (2)
- autopsy (8)
- avian abduction (1)
- balloon festival (2)
- beetle brooches (1)
- Ben Carson (1)
- Betty White (1)
- Bill Bass (2)
- bird mask (1)
- blizzard (1)
- blood donation (1)
- Bob Waldmire (2)
- body (2)
- Body Farm (2)
- body modification (1)
- bodysnatching (3)
- BodyWorlds (1)
- bog bodies (4)
- bookmobile (1)
- books (20)
- Brian Dettmer (1)
- burial customs (9)
- burqa (1)
- button collecting (1)
- cabinet of curiosities (5)
- cabinet of curiositiesth (1)
- cannibalism (15)
- capital punishment (1)
- casket (9)
- catacombs (4)
- cause of death (143)
- Causes of death (22)
- caves (13)
- cemeteries (36)
- census (1)
- Chang and Eng Bunker (1)
- Charles Altamont Doyle (1)
- Charles Darwin (4)
- Charles Dickens (2)
- Charles Jones (1)
- Charles Tripp (1)
- chastity belt (1)
- chimney sweeps (1)
- Christo (1)
- chunnel (1)
- circadian rhythm (1)
- Civil War (10)
- clocks (1)
- coffee (1)
- collections (1)
- conjoined twins (10)
- corpse (24)
- corpse flower (3)
- Corpses (2)
- corsets (1)
- Countess Elizabeth Báthory (1)
- cremation (11)
- Crittercam (2)
- crucifixion (1)
- crypt (1)
- custom of the sea (1)
- Damien Hirst (1)
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1)
- David Teniers the Younger (1)
- Dead Man Walking (1)
- death dates (1)
- death mask (4)
- Death of Innocents (1)
- death penalty (2)
- death row (1)
- death studies (1)
- deaths (8)
- decapitation (12)
- Decay (3)
- Declaration of Independence (1)
- dendrochronology (1)
- dermestid beetles (2)
- Día de los Muertos (1)
- dining (1)
- dioramas (1)
- Dirty Jobs (2)
- disaster (29)
- Disasters (1)
- disease (2)
- dissection (23)
- Donner Party (1)
- doppelgänger (1)
- double womb (1)
- dowsing (1)
- Dr. Seuss (3)
- Dracula (3)
- dreams (3)
- Duke of Hamilton (1)
- Dutch wooden shoes (1)
- Eartha Kitt (1)
- earthquake (2)
- Edgar Allan Poe (4)
- Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1)
- Edward Gorey (1)
- elevators (2)
- Eli Bowen (1)
- Elizabeth Heyert (1)
- Elizabeth I (1)
- Elizabeth Siddal (1)
- Elvis Presley (2)
- embalming (19)
- embryo (1)
- Emmett Kelly (1)
- Emmett Till (1)
- Emperor Nero (1)
- Engineering (14)
- Environment (25)
- Ernest Shackleton (3)
- Ernst Haeckel (1)
- eunuchs (1)
- Eva Perón (1)
- Evelyn Waugh (1)
- excavation (60)
- execution (13)
- exhibit (1)
- exhumation (11)
- expedition (15)
- Exploration (11)
- explosions (1)
- extinction (14)
- eyewitness (1)
- F. Gonzalez-Crussi (1)
- Fabergé eggs (1)
- facial reconstruction (3)
- Fashion (7)
- feral children (5)
- fiddlehead ferns (1)
- field trips (1)
- figurehead (1)
- fingerprints (1)
- fireworks (2)
- Flannery O'Connor (1)
- Florence Nightingale (1)
- folklore (49)
- Food (25)
- Fortean Times (1)
- fossil fuels (1)
- fossils (105)
- fractals (1)
- Frank Buckland (1)
- Franklin Expedition (1)
- Frederik Ruysch (2)
- funeral (11)
- funeral caissons (2)
- funeral food (1)
- funeral museums (5)
- funeral services (4)
- funicular (1)
- garden (23)
- Gardening (10)
- genealogy (4)
- genetics (1)
- geography (3)
- Geology (20)
- George Higham (2)
- Georgia O'Keeffe (1)
- ghosts (1)
- Giant's Causeway (1)
- gibbeting (1)
- Giovanni Belzoni (1)
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1)
- gladiator (1)
- golem (1)
- Govard Bidloo (1)
- graduate school (1)
- grave (9)
- gravesites (14)
- gravestone (9)
- Gretchen Worden (1)
- guest posts (2)
- Gunther von Hagens (3)
- hair (3)
- hair jewelry (1)
- Halloween (17)
- hanging (2)
- Hannah Kersey (1)
- harps (1)
- Harry Houdini (1)
- hearse (4)
- Hearst Castle (1)
- helicopters (1)
- helium (1)
- hermits (2)
- Hindenburg (1)
- Hippolyte Bayard (1)
- History (3)
- hoarding (10)
- Honoré Fragonard (1)
- horror stories (1)
- hot air balloons (2)
- Hottentot Venus (1)
- Howard Carter (1)
- human marvels (47)
- incorruptibles (1)
- Insects (28)
- institutionalization (1)
- intelligence (1)
- inventions (3)
- Iwo Jima Memorial (1)
- James Taylor (3)
- Jan Svankmeyer (2)
- Janet Mann (1)
- Jasmine Day (1)
- Jay Walker (1)
- Jayne Mansfield (1)
- Jeffrey Silverthorne (1)
- Jeremy Bentham (2)
- Jill Tracy (1)
- Jimi Hendrix (1)
- Jody Arlington (4)
- Joel-Peter Witkin (1)
- Johannes Vermeer (1)
- john butler trio (2)
- John F. Kennedy (1)
- John Horwood (1)
- John James Audubon (1)
- Jorge Lopez (1)
- Joseph Cornell (1)
- Julia Pastrana (1)
- Kathryn Myers (1)
- King Edward VII (1)
- kosher and halal (1)
- Kublai Khan (1)
- Kumbh mela (1)
- Lachrymatories (1)
- Lake Tahoe (1)
- Leonardo da Vinci (7)
- Lewis Hine (2)
- Lincoln (1)
- Linda Hunt (1)
- Literature (2)
- Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin (1)
- lying in state (1)
- M.C. Escher (2)
- Madeleine Albright (1)
- Maisenbacher House (1)
- Maj.-Gen. Daniel Sickles (1)
- Makpal Abdrazakova (1)
- Mammoths (4)
- Man on Wire (2)
- marginalia (1)
- marionettes (1)
- Mariska Hargitay (1)
- Mark Twain (1)
- Marlboro Man (1)
- martyrdom (1)
- Mary Fields (1)
- Mary Scott Huff (1)
- Maurice Sendak (3)
- Max Ehrmann (1)
- May Savidge (1)
- Medical (1)
- Medicine (20)
- memento mori (2)
- memorial (5)
- Meret Oppenheim (1)
- Millie-Christine (1)
- minerals (1)
- mirrors (1)
- mobility scooter (1)
- Möbius strip (1)
- Momento Mori (1)
- morgue (5)
- mourning (4)
- mourning jewelry (2)
- mummies (101)
- Munchkins (1)
- murder (34)
- museum (31)
- Museums (27)
- Music (10)
- musical instruments (9)
- Mütter Museum (6)
- Myrtle Corbin (1)
- Nadar (1)
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1)
- Nat Love (1)
- National Library of Medicine (1)
- National Museum of Health and Medicine (2)
- necrophilia (1)
- Neil deGrasse Tyson (1)
- Neil Gaiman (1)
- Noah's Ark (1)
- northern lights (1)
- Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death (1)
- obituaries (7)
- Occam's razor (1)
- oil spill (2)
- Onfim's drawings (1)
- optogram (1)
- organ donation (1)
- origami (1)
- ossuaries (3)
- P.T. Barnum (2)
- paintings (9)
- Paleontology (3)
- pathology (1)
- Patricia Lay-Dorsey (1)
- Pedro Ara (1)
- Pere Lachaise Cemetery (3)
- petrified wood (1)
- Philippe Petit (2)
- photography (138)
- phrenology (1)
- pica (2)
- pirates (3)
- plague (3)
- Plants (2)
- plastination (6)
- Plum Island (1)
- Poaching (1)
- poison (6)
- Polly Morgan (1)
- popemobile (1)
- population (1)
- Posthumous (2)
- potter's field (1)
- premature burial (1)
- preservation (2)
- presidents (1)
- prison (4)
- private islands (3)
- progeria (1)
- Progress report (1)
- promession (1)
- public dissection (7)
- Queen Victoria (1)
- R. Buckminster Fuller (1)
- Rainbow portrait (1)
- Rainn Wilson (1)
- relics (9)
- Religion (1)
- Remy Charlip (1)
- Rene Magritte (2)
- rescue (1)
- Richard Parker (1)
- Roald Dahl (2)
- Robert Capa (1)
- Robert Rauschenberg (1)
- Roger Williams (1)
- Rosamond Purcell (2)
- Rube Goldberg (1)
- Ruth Richardson (1)
- Saartjie Baartman (1)
- Sally Mann (1)
- Salvador Dali (2)
- samuel pickering (2)
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1)
- Santa Baby (1)
- Sarah Bernhardt (1)
- sarcophagus (1)
- scullery maids (1)
- Shakers (1)
- shanghaiing (1)
- Sharbat Gula (1)
- shipwreck (4)
- Shirley Jackson (1)
- shrunken heads (1)
- sideshow (4)
- Sigmund Freud (1)
- Sister Helen Prejean (1)
- Six Feet Under (2)
- skeletons (74)
- skulls (20)
- sleepwalking (1)
- Space (8)
- space chimp (3)
- spider (1)
- St. Louis MO (1)
- Stand by Me (1)
- Star Wars (1)
- Statue of Liberty (1)
- steampunk (1)
- Stephanie Millward (1)
- Stephen Hawking (1)
- submarine (1)
- suicide (16)
- suitcases (1)
- superstition (1)
- surgery (1)
- survival (6)
- sword swallowing (1)
- symbols (2)
- synchronicity (2)
- tarot (1)
- tattoo (10)
- taxidermy (30)
- Technology (16)
- Teddy Roosevelt (1)
- Temple Grandin (2)
- teratology (1)
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1)
- The Loved One (1)
- Theodore Roosevelt (1)
- Thomas Edison (1)
- Tim Hawkinson (1)
- Timbuktu (1)
- time capsule (7)
- Timothy Dexter (1)
- Titanic (4)
- Tocci Twins (1)
- torture (1)
- transplantation (4)
- transportation (1)
- tree ring dating (1)
- trees (11)
- trepanation (1)
- trephination (1)
- tsantsas (1)
- turkey pardon (1)
- Typhoid Mary (1)
- urban decay (1)
- vandalism (2)
- vanitas (1)
- vanity paintings (1)
- Victor Noir (1)
- Viking ship burial (1)
- Visible Human Project (1)
- vivisection (3)
- Walt Disney (1)
- Walter de Maria (1)
- war (44)
- Ware Hall House (1)
- weather (40)
- weird news (698)
- While They Slept (1)
- William Archibald Spooner (1)
- William Burke (1)
- William Cowper (1)
- William Kidd (1)
- William Wegman (1)
- wingspan (1)
- Winston Churchill (1)
- Woolly mammoth (6)
- Yellowstone (2)
- zeppelin (1)
- zombies (2)
- Zoos (15)
No comments:
Post a Comment
You may add your comments here.