Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died early Wednesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90.
Rohan de Silva, an aide to Mr. Clarke, said the author died after experiencing breathing problems, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Clarke had post-polio syndrome for the last two decades and used a wheelchair.
From his detailed forecast of telecommunications satellites in 1945, more than a decade before the first orbital rocket flight, to his co-creation, with the director Stanley Kubrick, of the classic science fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Mr. Clarke was both prophet and promoter of the idea that humanity’s destiny lay beyond the confines of Earth.
Mr. Clarke’s influence on public attitudes toward space was acknowledged by American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts, by scientists like the astronomer Carl Sagan and by movie and television producers. Gene Roddenberry credited Mr. Clarke’s writings with giving him courage to pursue his “Star Trek” project in the face of indifference, even ridicule, from television executives.
One of the best.
Clarke, Heinlein and Asimov were the Big 3 that got me started. He’ll be missed.
Trivia answer (thanks for trying, Jägermeister!)
Trivia–
When asked, “Why did you move to Sri Lanka?” (then Ceylon), what was Sir Arthur’s answer?
“30 British winters.”
He sponsored a dive school and at one time gave tours of his beautiful home.
I assume what is being edited-out are the rumors of pedophilia? A quick check on Wikipedia says it was started by the tabloid Sunday Mirror and retracted. The charge was investigate — at Clarke’s request — by police and dismissed.
http://tinyurl.com/18r
If you want to smear someone, that’s the charge to make. IT STICKS AND NEVER GOES AWAY. All you have to do is hear the rumor once, and the stink stays, even if the rumor is proven to be unfounded. (as in Clarke’s case)
You might remember that when Bush REALLY REALLY wanted his Iraq war, pesky Scott Ridder dared suggest that he’d been in Iraq and saw no WMDs.
So the morally-bankrupt Bush team spread a rumor that Ridder was a pedophile in an attempt to ruin him for the sin of speaking the truth.
Even now, you see this smear repeated as truth on the Right Wing blogs in comment lines, etc. The stink never goes away.
#35–tekla===WOW, you aren’t kidding. The “last interviews” with Clarke are with him in a hospital bed.
Interesting tidbits there. “Clarke championed the space elevator.”
Makes me think that while “ideas” are necessary–the engineers that bring the ideas forth in a way are more substantive? Those engineers need ideas that actually work. I always suspect that many people take credit for “ideas” that are generally floating around or too vague to really be an idea that is “credit worthy.” The idea of geosynchronous satelites or the space elevator or time travel are nice==much nicer to actually produce the product.
Note–I have neither ideas nor expertise===just saying.
#35, tekla, thanks for the great links!
Nice to see, this afternoon – the launch of D11, the latest satellite for DirecTV, was dedicated to Arthur Clarke by Boeing, SeaLaunch and DirecTV.
#38 – Yeah I’m not surprised that Boeing would do that. Probably most of the aerospace industry owes its profits to his stories. As to Clarke… he may have “forecasted the telecom satellite”. But he totally got some other things wrong. Like spinning space stations (and spacecraft decks). Though he borrowed that one from eariler authors. And AI computers that kill rather than admit to mistakes. That was just plain fear-mongery of new technology. Especially if it replaced a human astronaut’s job. Which is sacret cow to the aerospace fraternity. And lastly, in “2001”, apes can’t live in caves in arid regions. So the pre-dawn
ape-man scene, in his story, was preposterous. Pushing the species from vegetarian to instant carnivore (in one generation?), also preposterous. But obviously what was only important about that scene was that the hurled bone became a space station. Screw everything that happened in between. It wasn’t important.
@#34,
Can’t we just celebrate a great man without the @#$^* political crap?
I’m just sayin’.
#39, perhaps some of his ideas have NOT materialized yet, ever thought of that?
He was a pedophile. Period.