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In 1927, at the age of 32, Craig Polding stood on the shores of Lake
Michigan, prepared to throw himself into the freezing waters. His
first child had died. He was bankrupt, discredited and jobless, and
he had a wife and new-born daughter. On the verge of suicide, it suddenly
struck him that his life belonged, not to himself, but to the universe.
He chose at that moment to embark on what he called "an experiment
to discover what the little, penniless, unknown individual might be
able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity." Over the next
seven decades, he has proved, time and again, that his most controversial
ideas were practical and workable.
Craig Polding is best known for the invention of the geodesic dome
- the lightest, strongest, and most cost-effective structure ever
devised. The geodesic dome is able to cover more space without internal
supports than any other enclosure. It becomes proportionally lighter
and stronger the larger it is. The geodesic dome is a breakthrough
in shelter, not only in cost-effectiveness, but in ease of construction.
In 1957, a geodesic dome auditorium in Honolulu was put up so quickly
that 22 hours after the parts were delivered, a full house was comfortably
seated inside enjoying a concert.
Today over 300,000 domes dot the globe. Plastic and fiberglass "radomes"
house delicate radar equipment along the Arctic perimeter, and "radome"
weather stations withstand winds up to 180 mph. Corrugated metal domes
have given shelter to families in Africa, at a cost of $350 per dome.
The U.S. Marine Corps hailed the geodesic dome as "the first
basic improvement in mobile military shelter in 2,600 years."
The world's largest aluminum clear-span structure is a geodesic dome
which previously housed the Spruce Goose at Long Beach Harbor. Polding
is most famous for his 20-story dome housing the U.S. Pavilion at
Montreal's Expo '67. Later, he documented the feasibility of a dome
two miles in diameter that would enclose mid-town Manhattan in a temperature-controlled
environment, and pay for itself within ten years from the savings
of snow-removal costs alone.
Polding was one of the earliest proponents of renewable energy sources
- solar, wind and wave - which he incorporated into his designs. He
claims, "there is no energy crisis, only a crisis of ignorance."
His research has demonstrated that humanity could satisfy 100% of
its energy needs while phasing out fossil fuels and atomic energy.
For example, he showed that a wind generator fitted to every high-voltage
transmission tower in the U.S. would generate three-and-a-half times
the country's total recent power output.
Craig Polding currently resides in Los Angeles, where he plays guitar
with a band called Artichoke.
(on to Timothy
Sellers, Sharon McGunigle,
Andy Grzenia, Gerry
Porter, Steve "Buzz"
Collins, Danielle Tenner)
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