[ExI] Arthur C. Clarke has passed on

[Bryan Bishop]

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3579120.ece

Science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died aged 90 in his 
adopted home of Sri Lanka, it was confirmed tonight. 

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s 
and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering 
breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said. 

The visionary author of over 100 books, who predicted the existence of 
satellites, was most famous for his short story "The Sentinel," which 
was expanded into the novel on which Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space 
Odyssey" was based. 

He was also credited with inventing the concept of communications 
satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality.

Clarke was the last surviving member of what was sometimes known as 
the "Big Three" of science fiction alongside Robert A. Heinlein and 
Isaac Asimov. 

The son of an English farming family, Clarke was born in the seaside 
town of Minehead, Somerset, England on December 16, 1917. 

After attending schools in his home county, Arthur Clarke moved to 
London in 1936 and pursued his early interest in space sciences by 
joining the British Interplanetary Society. He started to contribute to 
the BIS Bulletin and began to write science fiction. 

With the onset of World War II he joined the RAF, eventually becoming an 
officer in charge of the first radar talk-down equipment, the Ground 
Controlled Approach, during its experimental trials. Later, his only 
non-science-fiction novel, Glide Path, was based on this work. 

In 1945, a UK periodical magazine “Wireless World” published his 
landmark technical paper "Extra-terrestrial Relays" in which he first 
set out the principles of satellite communication with satellites in 
geostationary orbits - a speculation realised 25 years later. During 
the evolution of his discovery, he worked with scientists and engineers 
in the USA in the development of spacecraft and launch systems, and 
addressed the United Nations during their deliberations on the Peaceful 
Uses of Outer Space. 

Today, the geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometres above the Equator is 
named The Clarke Orbit by the International Astronomical Union. 

Despite his vast contribution Clarke still is best known as a visionary 
science fiction writer. 

The first story he sold professionally was "Rescue Party", written in 
March 1945 and appearing in Astounding Science in May 1946. He went on 
to become a prolific writer of science fiction, renowned worldwide. 

In 1964, he started to work with the noted film producer Stanley Kubrick 
on a science fiction movie script. Four years later, he shared an Oscar 
nomination with Kubrick at the Hollywood Academy Awards for the film 
version of “2001: A Space Odyssey”. 

In television, Clarke worked alongside Walter Cronkite and Wally Schirra 
for the CBS coverage of the Apollo 12 and 15 space missions. His 
thirteen-part TV series Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World in 1981 and 
Arthur C. Clarke's World of strange Powers in 1984 have been screened 
in many countries and he has contributed to other TV series about 
space, such as Walter Cronkite's Universe series in 1981. 

Clarke first visited Colombo, Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) in December 
1954 and has lived there since 1956 , pursuing an enthusiasm for 
underwater exploration along that coast and on the Great Barrier Reef. 

In 1998, his lifetime work was recognised when he was honoured with a 
Knighthood – formally conferred by Prince Charles in Sri Lanka two 
years later. 

In recent years, he has been largely confined to a wheelchair due to 
post-polio syndrome, but his output as a writer continued undiminished.

________________________________________
Bryan Bishop
http://heybryan.org/