During the period from 1947 through 1976 Bucky continued his earlier explorations while attaining celebrity status for his work with geodesic domes. Although he was constantly lecturing and teaching about the intricacies of geodesics and structure at least 100 times each year, it was not until 1953 that the general public became really aware of the geodesic dome, its potential uses and its revolutionary inventor.

In 1953, Bucky designed and supervised construction of the first commercial geodesic dome. It was built high above the open courtyard of the Ford Motor Headquarters Building just outside Detroit, Michigan. By accomplishing a feat that every engineer who considered it had deemed impossible, both Fuller and his dome became instant heroes of modern technology.

Use of the geodesic dome spread rapidly around the world. Industries, governments and individuals found that lightweight, strong domes could be used to solve challenges that had been considered impossible, and each new dome manufacturer had to license Fuller's geodesic dome patents.

In the 1955 at the age of sixty, Fuller could have retired on his licensing fees from the geodesic dome, but he had no interest in gaining great wealth or slowing down. Instead, he expanded his effort to create success for all humankind.

He personally designed and supervised the construction of most of the significant geodesic domes built during that period. He also expanded his unique “thinking out loud lecturing” around the World.  In response to a constant flow of invitations, he was soon making at least 130 such appearances every year. In fact, he was giving presentations until his death.  His final public presentation was an all day session focused on integrity to a sold out auditorium in Huntington Beach, California.

Although most people believe Bucky to have been an architect, inventor and engineer, if he can be categorized as anything other than a “Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Scientist” (“Comprehensivist” for short), the labels need to include mystic philosopher, bodhisattva and spiritual master.  He used physical disciplines and artifacts (including architecture, engineering, poetry, and writing) to model the generalized principles that he found governing every aspect of Universe.

Realizing that as physical beings, we humans can understand things best when they are explained using physical materials, he set out to build "artifacts" (i.e. inventions including books and lectures) that helped him to explain eternal metaphysical principles and how they could best be applied to benefit the welfare of all life. Although often considered extremely complex and unusual, his explanations and inventions have been of great use to many people. After reading the manuscript for Bucky's first book in 1936, Albert Einstein told him, "Young man, you amaze me! I cannot conceive anything I have ever done as having the slightest practical application, … but you appear to have found practical applications for it (Einstein’s theories)."

Bucky's remained true to that experiment for fifty-six years until his death in 1983. During that period, he saved and archived every possible aspect of his life, creating his Chronofile and making his life the most documented of any “ordinary, average” (not a public official) person in the history of humankind.

Although that experiment has yet to be fully examined, the success of Bucky's life is indisputable. After discovering the natural underlying principles that govern all Universe, Bucky applied them to every aspect of his work where he:

• Was granted 25 U.S. patents.
• Wrote 28 published books and thousands of articles.
• Received 47 honorary doctorates.
• Was presented with hundreds of major awards.
• Circled the globe 57 times working on projects and lecturing.
• Presented an average of 100 "thinking out loud" sessions per year (often labeled lectures, they would range from two to six or more hours in length), even when he was in his eighties.

Most important was his documentation and demonstration of the importance of the "little individual" in the grand scheme of human evolution. Living as a global citizen, Bucky was able to teach by example -- showing us with his accomplishments and seeming failures that each of us possess tremendous gifts that we can contribute to others and help create “a world that works for everyone.”  He also proved that a person could have a satisfying, enjoyable life while making his or her unique contribution.

1947 - Invents Geodesic Dome.
First teaches at Black Mountain College.

1948 - Teaches at MIT.

1949 - Begins extensive travels responding to speaking invitations worldwide.

1952 - Begins work on Ford Motor Dome in Detroit.
Constructs first Geoscope with students at Cornell University.
Receives Award of Merit, American Institute of Architects.

1954 - Receives patent for Geodesic Dome.
Receives first of his eventual 47 honorary degrees, Doctor of Design from North Carolina State University.
Asked to design a geodesic dome to cover Dodger Stadium.

1955 - First Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line Radomes are installed in Northern Canada.

1956 - Becomes visiting lecturer at Southern Illinois University.

1957 - Union Tank Car Dome in Louisiana and Kaiser Hawaii Symphony Dome are erected.

1958 - Makes the first of many annual circuits traveling around the world speaking (primarily at universities).

1959 - Appointed professor and awarded honorary doctor of arts degree at SIU, Carbondale IL.  Sets up global headquarters at SIU
He & Anne move into a Carbondale geodesic dome home.

1961 - Granted patent for octet truss he first built in 1899 at the age of four.

1962 - Appointed as Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, Harvard University.
Establishes “Inventory of World Resources, Human Trends and Needs” (World Game) at SIU.
Granted patent for tensegrity structure.

1963 - Publishes the books No More Secondhand God, Ideas and Integrities and Education Automation.
Appointed to NASA’s Advanced Structures Research Team, which adopts his octet truss and geodesic dome as primary space structures.

1964 - Subject of Time magazine cover story.
Publishes Design Science Decade: World Inventory, Human Trends and Needs.

1966 - Completes design for USA Pavilion at ’67 Montreal World’s Fair.
Inaugurates World Game at SIU.

1967 - Featured in Saturday Review cover story.
Montreal Expo Dome draws record attendance of 5.3 million people in six months.
Elected to honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa (Harvard) on the occasion of the fifty-year reunion of the Class of 1917 (from which he was expelled in his first year).
Granted patent for star tensegrity.

1968 - Elected to National Academy of Design and World Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Appointed Distinguished University Professor at SIU

1969 - Leads first public World Game workshop.
Delivers Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture.
Publishes Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth and Utopia or Oblivion.

1970 - Publishes I Seem to Be a Verb.
Installed as Master Architect for Life by Alpha Ro Chi Architectural Fraternity.

1971 - Presents proposal for “Old Man River City” in East St. Louis, and it is accepted.
NBC broadcasts documentary Buckminster Fuller on Spaceship Earth.

1972 - Appointed “World Fellow in Residence” by a consortium of Philadelphia institutions.
Publishes Intuition and Buckminster Fuller to the Children of Earth.
Delivers over 120 “thinking out loud” lectures around the world.
Is featured as interview in Playboy magazine.

1973 - Establishes publication and research office in Philadelphia.
Granted patents for floating breakwater and tensegrity dome.
Moves to Philadelphia.

1974 - Delivers over 150 “thinking out loud” lectures around the world.
Granted a New York State Architect’s License.

1975 - Publishes Synergetics, The Geometry of Thinking.
Is elected International President of the World Society for Ekistics.
Granted patent for non-symmetrical tension-integrity structures.
Inducted as a fellow in the American Institute of Architects.

1976 - Participates in drafting “Declaration of Principles and Rights for American Children.”
Publishes And It Came To Pass - Not To Stay.
Completes work on world’s first tetrahedronal book, Tetrascroll, which is published in limited edition.