Russel C Chu
Russel C. Chu | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1951 (age 74–75) |
| Residence | Falls Church, VA, United States |
| Known for | Structure |
Russel C. Chu (born 1951) is an American carpenter, builder, and independent researcher known for his work on tensegrity structures and for applying R. Buckminster Fuller's Synergetics to the study of crystal geometry. He is best known for developing the concept of four interpenetrating isotropic vector matrices as a framework for describing chemical structures, and for two United States patents on octet space-frame and tensegrity systems.
Biography
Chu is a carpenter by trade who worked in commercial and residential construction and owned a construction company for twelve years. He built his family's house in Brazil at the age of fifteen.
He attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1969 to 1973, majoring in engineering and design in the College of Fine Arts. There he was first introduced to Buckminster Fuller's work in a design class in which students built geodesic domes and inflatable structures. In 1981, after reading Fuller's book Critical Path, he began studying Synergetics, motivated by an interest in understanding how Fuller had arrived at the geodesic dome concept.
Chu has lived in Falls Church, Virginia.
Work
Drawing on his study of Synergetics, Chu collaborated with Tony Gwilliam building tensegrity systems, beginning in November 1985, with the stated intent of using the proceeds to support work in Synergetics. Their company, Tensegrity International Inc., was based in Ojai, California, and designed, manufactured, and marketed a foldable tensegrity display system. In January 1988 the company co-sponsored, with the Buckminster Fuller Institute, a Synergetics workshop led by Yasushi Kajikawa.
Chu and Gwilliam applied for a patent in December 1986; U.S. Patent No. 4,711,062, "Octet structures using tension and compression," was granted on December 8, 1987. On September 26, 1989, Chu was granted U.S. Patent No. 4,869,041, "Octet space frame structure and components for assembling such space frames," which he referred to as the Octet Truss Expansion System. The system could be built in any pattern of the isotropic vector matrix and was intended as a method of constructing very large structures, such as structures in space, using a robot; it was based on Fuller's miniaturization principle in Synergetics section 740.00 and included an improved connecting system for building the octet truss. Chu later expressed the view that patenting such work was not an advantage to humanity, citing the contributions of the freeware and open-source model.
Scientific contributions
In April 1985 Chu published an article on the isomatrix in Synergetica, introducing the idea of four interpenetrating isotropic vector matrices (IVMs) and showing some of their relationships to simple chemical structures. The isotropic vector matrix is Fuller's description of the closest packing of equal spheres in the cubic close-packed configuration, also known as the face-centered cubic lattice or, in architecture, as the octet truss.
In 1998, following the creation of the Java-based modeling program Struck by Gerald de Jong, Chu spent a year writing about the connection between the isotropic vector matrix and chemical structures, publishing the work on the web as "An Introduction to Synergetic Crystallography" (February 1998). The work sought to show that various combinations of four interpenetrating IVMs are sufficient to map most basic crystal structures, including the cubic Bravais lattices, diamond-type structures, and hexagonal close-packed arrangements.