[Infowarrior] - Arthur C Clarke dies aged 90

[Richard Forno]

March 18, 2008
Science fiction author Arthur C Clarke dies aged 90

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/arti
cle3579120.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 1:30am after suffering breathing
problems, his personal secretary Rohan De Silva said.

³Sir Arthur passed away a short while ago at the Apollo Hospital [in
Colombo}. He had a cardio-respiratory attack,² he said.

His valet, W. K. M. Dharmawardena, said funeral arrangements would be
finalised after his close family returned to the island from Australia.

Mr Dharmawardena said Clarke¹s condition had begun to deteriorate in recent
weeks and he had been in hospital for the past four days.

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 ³Wireless World² 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 ³2001: A Space Odyssey².

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.

Marking his ³90th orbit of the sun² in December, the author said he did not
feel "a day over 89" and made three birthday wishes: for ET to call, for man
to kick his oil habit and for peace in Sri Lanka.