Sir Arthur C. Clarke, renowned Sci-Fi author and futurist, dies aged 90
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author of almost 100 books including 2001: A Space Odyssey, passed away at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Wednesday. He was 90.
“He had been taken to hospital in what we had hoped was one of the slings and arrows of being 90, but in this case it was his final visit,” Scott Chase, the secretary of the nonprofit Arthur C. Clarke Foundation, revealed in a statement on his official website.
Clarke’s iconic status was achieved through his collaboration with acclaimed director Stanley Kubrik in the movie adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He was awarded a knighthood in 1998 for his services to literature.
Although most famous for the novels and movie of the same name, Clarke first shot to fame through his 1945 prediction, published in the Wireless World journal, that artificial satellites would be used as relay stations for Earth-based communications. Ironically, despite predicting the technology more than a decade before the first space flights, he later revealed that a lawyer had dissuaded him from applying for a patent.
As a result though, he will always be remembered for his significant influence on the budding space age and for his persistent belief that humanity’s future lies outside the confines of this planet. It is impossible to guess how many other science fiction novels, movies and videogames, not to mention real life technologies have been touched by his futuristic visions and literary excellence.
According to Wikipedia, he believed that the Space Elevator first described in the novel The Fountains of Paradise will be his ultimate legacy.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke was only married briefly in 1953 to a fellow diving enthusiast, Marilyn Mayfield. They separated shortly after and were officially divorced in 1964. They had no children.
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One thought on “Sir Arthur C. Clarke, renowned Sci-Fi author and futurist, dies aged 90”
I once had the good fortune to interview Arthur C Clarke. It was one of the highlights of my journalistic career. As a writer about satellite TV, I explained to him that he had basically given me a career because he was the man who first explained how geo-stationary satellites could work! But he was really very humble about it his achievements. Just very kind and boyishly enthusiastic about his many futuristic concepts and projects that he continued to be involved in until his death. His passing is a sad loss to science that’s for sure. There aren’t too many people who come round like him in a lifetime.
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