Buckminster Fuller

His work keeps popping up in everything I read. His work is very interesting, as he dedicated his life to answering one question:

"Does humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully on planet Earth, and if so, how?"

He was an environmentalist, and his work is entirely fascinating. He really explored the idea of technological advances in order to create a world for everyone to live in. He was most famous for his geodesic dome (pictured above), but he did work on all sorts of things, and he has a fantastic institute named after him. The Buckminster Fuller Institute is dedicated to the ongoing development of saving the world through science.