19.3.2008
Visionary
science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke passed away at
the age of 90 in Colombo at1.30 this morning. Sir Arthur
was resident in Sri Lanka several decades.
Sir Clarke had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome
since the 1960s.
Most
famous for expanding his short story "The Sentinel"
into a novel and screenplay that served as the basis for
Stanley's Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the
British-born Arthur C. Clarke authored more than 100 books
involving space, science, and science fiction, and he's
often credited with inventing the concept of satellite
communications. He first proposed the idea in 1945 with
a paper called "Extra-terrestrial Relays."
Today,
the International Astronomical Union refers to a geostationary
satellite orbit as The Clarke Orbit.
Sir
Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England on December
16, 1917. In 1936, he moved to London, where he worked
as a clerk in Her Majesty's Exchequer and Audit Department
and joined The British Interplanetary Society. He soon
was contributing to the Society Bulletin, while trying
his hand at science fiction.
During
the Second World War, he joined the RAF and was eventually
put in charge of a new radar-based blind landing system.
Then, in May 1946, his first published story, "The
Rescue Party," appeared in Astounding Science Fiction.
"The Sentinel" was published two years later.
Kubrick
approached Sir Clarke in 1964, and after four years of
collaboration, they received a joint Academy awards nomination
for their work on the 2001 screenplay.
Sir
Clarke's "2001" novel, written alongside the
screenplay, was followed by three sequels: "2010,"
"2061," and "3001: The Final Odyssey."
Other well-known Clarke books include "Childhood's
End," "The City and The Stars," "The
Nine Billion Names of God," "Rendezvous with
Rama," "Imperial Earth," and "The
Songs of Distant Earth."
Sir
Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers
of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the
World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and
in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers
of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.
Courtesy
- Government Information