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Arthur C. Clarke

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Arthur C. Clarke
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  • Born: 16 December 1917
  • Birthplace: Minehead, Somerset, England
  • Died: 19 March 2008
  • Best Known As: The author of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Sci-fi superstar Arthur C. Clarke wrote the 1953 novel Childhood's End, which went on to become one of most popular and acclaimed science fiction novels of all time. Yet he is still better known for his 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (based on his own 1951 short story The Sentinel). Clarke worked with director Stanley Kubrick on the screenplay for the 1968 film, which is now regarded as a classic. Clarke has published hundreds of essays and short stories and over 75 novels, including the sequels 2010: Odyssey Two (1982), 2061: Odyssey Three (1988), 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997). Along with his literary work, he is credited with coming up with the idea for a real-life space success: geostationary communications satellites. Since 1956 he has lived in Sri Lanka. Clarke was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998. Arthur C. Clarke - The Authorized Biography was published by Neil McAleer in 1992. He died in the Indian Ocean country of Sri Lanka, his home since 1956.

Clarke's middle name is Charles... He was nominated for a screenwriting Oscar in 1969 for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but did not win; the winner that year was Mel Brooks for the comedy The Producers... Among Clarke's literary creations is the fictional supercomputer Hal 9000.

 
 
Biography: Arthur C. Clarke

Known as one of the modern masters of science fiction, English novelist Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) created the immensely popular "2001" series, which became the basis for a classic film in 1968.

Arthur C. Clarke is the architect of some of the 20th Century's most enduring mythology. A futurist and science fiction writer, Clarke penned over 600 articles and short stories, as well as dozens of novels and collections. His work has been translated into over 30 languages and adapted on television and in Hollywood movies, most notably in the classic 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. That Stanley Kubrick movie helped make Arthur C. Clarke an international celebrity. It won a whole new audience for his visionary tales about the possibilities of science and the wonders of space exploration, and solidified his reputation as one of the modern masters of science fiction.

Discovers Science Fiction Early

Arthur Charles Clarke was born on December 16, 1917 in the seaside town of Minehead, Somerset, England. His parents, Charles Wright and Nora (Willis) Clarke, were farmers. Clarke was educated at Huish's Grammar School in Taunton, Somerset. He first began reading science fiction at the age of 12, when he first discovered the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. It soon became his principal passion. "During my lunch hour away from school I used to haunt the local Woolworth's in search of my fix," he told The New York Times Book Review, "which cost three pence a shot, roughly a quarter today."

As a teenager, Clarke began writing his own stories for a school magazine. When poverty forced him to drop out of school in 1936, he moved to London to work as a civil servant auditor for the British government. He kept up his interest in outer space by joining the British Interplanetary Society, an association of sci-fi hobbyists. He wrote articles on space exploration for the Society journal and got to know other science fiction writers and editors. He would later use these contacts to secure the publication of his first stories.

When World War II broke out, Clarke joined the Royal Air Force (RAF), where he worked as a radar instructor and earned the rank of flight-lieutenant. During this time, Clarke served as a technical officer on the first Ground Control Approach radar. In 1945, he wrote an article, "Extraterrestrial Relays," which proposed using satellites for communications, something which would become quite common in later years. After the war ended he returned to London and enrolled at King's College. He graduated in 1948 with a bachelor of science degree. His honor subjects were mathematics and physics.

Becomes Prominent Futurist

In 1946, Clarke became the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society. That spring saw the publication of his first two science fiction stories, "Loophole" and "Rescue Party" (both published in Amazing Science Fiction magazine). During this period, he often wrote under pen names, which included Charles Willis and E.G. O'Brien. His early stories were known for their tidy construction and sound scientific basis.

In 1949, Clarke returned to hard science, joining the staff of Physics Abstracts as its assistant editor. But he continued writing about outer space as well. His first novel, Prelude to Space was published in 1951. Another book, The Sands of Mars followed later that year. While many reviewers found the prose in these novels a bit stiff, they did offer an optimistic view of the potentials of science in the space age. Islands in the Sky (1952), about a boy in an orbiting space station, was another representative early book.

Sentinel of Things To Come

In 1952, Clarke received the International Fantasy Award for his early work. The next year, he published Expedition to Earth, a collection of short stories which included "The Sentinel." This tale, which involves the discovery by humans of a mysterious alien monolith, was to form the basis of the 1968 film and novelization 2001: A Space Odyssey. It also marked the introduction of metaphysical and religious themes into Clarke's work. Many readers saw "The Sentinel" as an allegory about man's search for God. Certainly it expressed Clarke's belief in the power of science in helping mankind understand the universe.

Clarke continued to explore these themes in his next two books. Against the Fall of Night (1953) follows a young protagonist in his attempts to escape from the controlled environment of a utopian city of the future. Childhood's End involves an attempt by aliens to tutor mankind in the ways of cosmic transcendence. Both stories so gripped Clarke's imagination that he spent many years revising and rewriting them under various titles. Both novels are highly conceptual and contain many mystical, visionary passages. They are considered two of his finest achievements and helped break new ground in the science fiction genre.

Man of Many Interests

Clarke maintained other interests during this fertile period as well. On June 15, 1953, he married Marilyn Mayfield. In 1954, he took the first the first step in what would become a lifelong effort to explore and photograph the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and the coast of Sri Lanka. He took up residence in Sri Lanka (known at the time as Ceylon) in 1956. An avid skin diver, Clarke wrote many non-fiction books and articles about his experiences.

Clarke continued to write prolifically throughout the 1950s. His work came to embrace many topics that went beyond the conventions of genre science fiction. The Deep Range (1954) concerned the possibility of farming under the sea in the future, managing to combine Clarke's interests in science and underwater exploration. The Star (1955) was another powerful allegorical story about a star put in the sky by God to herald the birth of Jesus. It won a Hugo award, the science fiction community's highest honor.

In the 1960s, Clarke began to concentrate on non-fiction. His writings on the nature of science won him the UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 1962. In 1963, he published his first non-science fiction novel, Glide Path, about the origins of radar. As space travel became more reality than fiction, Clarke began to write and speak extensively on the subject. He became well-known around the world as a television commentator for CBS covering the Apollo 11, 12, and 15 missions.

Becomes an International Figure

Clarke's fame took a quantum leap with the release of Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). This adaptation of Clarke's short story "The Sentinel" redefined science fiction filmmaking. It eschewed the cowboy conventions of earlier, Western-influenced movies about space exploration. Instead, 2001 followed Clarke's lead in using science fiction as a bridge to the consideration of mystical and religious themes. The limits of technology were also explored, in a scene where a space station's super computer, known as HAL 9000, goes berserk and attempts to kill its human users. The picture was a hit with moviegoers and made Clarke the most recognizable science fiction writer on the planet. He penned a novelization of the film which expanded upon the characters and themes contained in "The Sentinel."

Clarke used his newfound international celebrity to secure a lucrative new book contract. A collection of his non-fiction science writing, The Exploration of Space received the International Fantasy Award in 1972, A new novel, Rendezvous with Rama appeared in 1973. It explored many of the same themes as 2001 and was awarded all the major science fiction prizes. Imperial Earth: A Fantasy of Love and Discord (1975) got a decidedly mixed reception from critics. But Clarke bounced back with Fountains of Paradise (1979), which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Clarke disappointed many of his fans, however, when he announced it would be his last book of fiction.

Reneges on Promise

By 1982, despite his previous statements, Clarke was ready to write another novel. He produced a sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two, which was made into a popular film two years later. It was followed in 1986 by 2061: Odyssey Three, solidifying the "Sentinel" mythos into a full-blown series. Also in 1986, Clarke was the recipient of a Nebula Grand Master Award for his contributions to science fiction.

Now in his seventies and a certified living legend, Clarke showed no signs of slowing down. With help from co-author Gentry Lee, he produced sequels to Rendezvous with Rama in 1989, 1991, and 1994. In 1989, his memoir, Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography appeared. The entertaining account of his life contains many fascinating anecdotes about other writers Clarke had known. The solo novel The Ghost from the Grand Banks (1990), about attempts to raise the Titanic in the near future, was dismissed by reviewers as too spare. But 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997) returned Clarke to familiar and beloved territory. The sprawling conclusion to the saga begun in "The Sentinel" some 45 years earlier read like a summation of the visionary writer's life and philosophy.

Clarke's critics have said his work lacks warmth, that he concentrated on science to the detriment of the "human element" that is so necessary to good fiction. But critics sympathetic to Clarke's viewpoint see in his work a vision that transcends the limitations of "nuts and bolts" sci-fi. That vision, wrote Eric S. Rabkin in his study Arthur C. Clarke, is "a humane and open and fundamentally optimistic view of humankind and its potential in a universe which dwarfs us in physical size but which we may hope some day to match in spirit."

Further Reading

Contemporary Authors, New Revisions, Volume 55, Gale, 1997.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by John Clute and Peter Nichols, St. Martin's Press, 1993.

Hollow, John, Against the Night, The Stars: The Science Fiction of Arthur C. Clarke, Harcourt Brace, 1983.

Rabkin, Eric S., Arthur C. Clarke, Starmont House, 1979.

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Arthur Charles Clarke

(born Dec. 16, 1917, Minehead, Somerset, Eng. — died March 19, 2008, Colombo, Sri L.) English science-fiction writer. He first published stories while in the Royal Air Force and, after earning a degree in physics and mathematics, wrote such novels as Childhood's End (1953), Earthlight (1955), Rendezvous with Rama (1973), and The Fountains of Paradise (1979). He collaborated with Stanley Kubrick in making 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, film and novel). Some of Clarke's ideas proved remarkably prescient. In the 1950s he moved to Sri Lanka. In 1997 he published 3001: The Final Odyssey. He was knighted in 2000.

For more information on Arthur Charles Clarke, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Clarke, Arthur C.
(Arthur Charles Clarke), 1917–, British science fiction writer. During World War II he served as a radar instructor and aviator in the Royal Air Force. After the war he obtained a degree in physics from King's College, London (1949), and in 1956 he emigrated to Sri Lanka. His popular, technologically realistic books and stories blend dread and wonder as they examine the search for meaning in the universe. Among his more than 70 books are Childhood's End (1953), Rendezvous with Rama (1973), and The Songs of Distant Earth (1983). In 1968 he collaborated with filmmaker Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, a novel that became an extremely successful motion picture. Three novelistic sequels followed, the last in 1997. Appropriately, Clarke's Collected Stories were published in 2001. In 1945, Clarke proposed the concept of positioning an artificial satellite in an orbit in which it circles the earth every 24 hours, thus appearing stationary to the locale below. Today, dozens of such communications satellites orbit the earth.

Bibliography

See study by J. D. Olander (1977).

 
(1917-2008)

Famous British science fiction author and technologist credited with originating the concept of communication satellites. Clarke has also presented two television series on paranormal phenomena. He was born December 16, 1917, in Minehead, Somersetshire, England, and was educated at King's College, University of London (B.Sc., 1948). He had previously been an auditor in the British Civil Service (1936-44) and a radar instructor in the Royal Air Force (1941-46), retiring as a flight lieutenant. After graduation he served as an assistant editor of Science Abstracts (1949-50). He began freelance writing in 1951 and has since turned out numerous nonfiction and science fiction books such as, Childhood's End, and Rendezvous with Rama. He was selected to chair the Second International Astronautics Congress in London, 1951.

Clarke has received many important awards for his science fiction writing and his scientific contributions, including the Stuart Ballantine Gold Medal from the Franklin Institute in 1963 for his concept of communications satellites, the Robert Ball Award from the Aviation-Space Writers Association in 1965 for best aerospace reporting of the year, and the Westinghouse Science Writing Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1969.

Clarke became internationally famous for his screenplay (with Stanley Kubrick) for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which received the Second International Film Festival special award in 1969 and an Academy Award nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1969).

With such a background of scientific fact and fiction, Clarke's investigation of claimed paranormal phenomena was of special interest. He was coauthor with Simon Welfare and John Fairley of two important television series: Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (1980) and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers (1984), both presented on British television and later aired on programs in the United States and other countries. The series was supported by books containing additional material not in the television programs. In both books and television programs, Clarke and his collaborators express a considerable skepticism, although granting a limited probability to certain claimed paranormal phenomena such as apparitions, maledictions, poltergeists, telepathy, stigmata, and fire walking. However, the great value of books and programs lay in the scrutiny of recent phenomena instead of simply a rehash of old material, and in the television programs rare early movie records of phenomena were shown together with recently filmed events. Both books and television programs therefore constitute a useful record of research, and even their skepticism is a healthy corrective to overcredulous writing and filming on the paranormal.

Sources:

Clarke, Arthur C. Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography. New York: John Wiley, 1984.

——. Childhood's End. New York: Ballantine, 1953.

——. The Ghost from the Grand Banks. London: V. Gollancz, 1990.

——. Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible. New York: Holt Rinehart, and Winston, 1984.

——. Rama Revealed. London, Gollancz and New York: Bantam, 1993.

——. Rendezvous with Rama. London, Gollancz and New York: Harcourt Brace, 1973.

Fairley, John. Arthur Clarks' World of Strange Powers. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1984.

 
Quotes By: Arthur C. Clarke

Quotes:

"Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: (1) It's completely impossible. (2) It's possible, but it's not worth doing. (3) I said it was a good idea all along."

"It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value."

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."

"Our lifetime may be the last that will be lived out in a technological society."

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

 
Wikipedia: Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke at his home office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 28 March 2005.
Pseudonym: Charles Willis,[1]
E.G. O'Brien[1]
Born: {{{birth_date}}}
Occupation: Author, Inventor
Nationality: British and
Sri Lankan
Genres: Science fiction, popular science, Fantasy
Subjects: Science
Spouse: Marilyn Mayfield (1953-1964)
Influences: H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Lord Dunsany
Influenced: Stephen Baxter
Website: http://www.clarkefoundation.org/

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 191719 March 2008[2]) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name.

Biography

Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England.[2] As a boy he enjoyed stargazing and reading old American science fiction pulp magazines (many of which made their way to the UK in ships with sailors who read them to pass the time). After secondary school and studying at Huish's Grammar School, Taunton, he was unable to afford a university education and got a job as an auditor in the pensions section of the Board of Education.

During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist and was involved in the early warning radar defence system, which contributed to the RAF's success during the Battle of Britain. Clarke spent most of his service time working on Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) radar as documented in his semi-autobiographical novel Glide Path. Although GCA did not see much practical use in the war, after several years of development it was vital to the Berlin Airlift of 1948–1949. He was demobilised with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. After the war he earned a first-class degree in mathematics and physics at King's College London.

In the postwar years Clarke became involved with the British Interplanetary Society and served for a time as its chairman. Although he was not the originator of the concept of geostationary satellites, one of his most important contributions may be his idea that they would be ideal telecommunications relays. He advanced this idea in a paper privately circulated among the core technical members of the BIS in 1945. The concept was published in Wireless World in October of that year.[3][4][5] Clarke also wrote a number of non-fiction books describing the technical details and societal implications of rocketry and space flight. The most notable of these may be The Exploration of Space (1951) and The Promise of Space (1968). In recognition of these contributions a geostationary orbit is officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union as a "Clarke orbit".[citation needed]

While Clarke had a few stories published in fanzines, between 1937 and 1945, his first professional sales appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946: "Loophole" was published in April, while "Rescue Party", his first sale, was published in May. Along with his writing Clarke briefly worked as Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts (1949) before devoting himself to writing full-time from 1951 onward. Clarke also contributed to the Dan Dare series published in Eagle, and his first three published novels were written for children.

Clarke corresponded with C. S. Lewis in the 1940s and 1950s and they once met in an Oxford pub, the Eastgate, to discuss science fiction and space travel. Clarke, after Lewis's death, voiced great praise for him, saying the Ransom Trilogy was one of the few works of science fiction that could be considered literature.

In 1948 he wrote "The Sentinel" for a BBC competition. Though the story was rejected it changed the course of Clarke's career. Not only was it the basis for A Space Odyssey, but "The Sentinel" also introduced a more mystical and cosmic element to Clarke's work. Many of Clarke's later works feature a technologically advanced but prejudiced mankind being confronted by a superior alien intelligence. In the cases of The City and the Stars, Childhood's End, and the 2001 series, this encounter produces a conceptual breakthrough that accelerates humanity into the next stage of its evolution.

In 1953 Clarke met and quickly married Marilyn Mayfield, a 22-year-old American divorcee with a young son. They separated permanently after six months, although the divorce was not finalised until 1964.[6]

Clarke lived in Sri Lanka from 1956 until his death in 2008, having emigrated there when it was still called Ceylon, first in Unawatuna on the south coast, and then in Colombo.[7] Clarke held citizenship of both the UK and Sri Lanka.[8] He was an avid scuba diver and a member of the Underwater Explorers Club. Living in Sri Lanka afforded him the opportunity to visit the ocean year-round. It also inspired the locale for his novel The Fountains of Paradise in which he first described a space elevator. This, he believed, ultimately will be his legacy, more so than geostationary satellites, once space elevators make space shuttles obsolete.[9]

His many predictions culminated in 1958 when he began a series of essays in various magazines that eventually became Profiles of the Future published in book form in 1962. A timetable[10] up to the year 2100 describes inventions and ideas including such things as a "global library" for 2005.

Early in his career Clarke had a fascination with the paranormal and stated that it was part of the inspiration for his novel Childhood's End. He also said that he was one of several who were fooled by a Uri Geller demonstration at Birkbeck College. Although he eventually dismissed and distanced himself from nearly all pseudoscience he continued to advocate research into purported instances of psychokinesis and similar phenomena.

In the early 1970s Clarke signed a three-book publishing deal, a record for a science-fiction writer at the time. The first of the three was Rendezvous with Rama in 1973, which won him all the main genre awards and has spawned sequels that, along with the 2001 series, formed the backbone of his later career.

In 1975 Clarke's short story "The Star" was not included in a new high school English textbook in Sri Lanka because of concerns that it might offend Roman Catholics even though it had already been selected. The same textbook also caused controversy because it replaced Shakespeare's work with that of Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Isaac Asimov.

In the 1980s Clarke became well known to many for his television programmes Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers.

In 1986 he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.[11]

In 1988 he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, having originally contracted polio in 1959, and needed to use a wheelchair most of the time thereafter.[7] On 10 September, 2007, while commenting on the Cassini probe's flyby of Iapetus (which plays an important role in 2001: A Space Odyssey) Clarke mentioned that he was completely wheelchair-bound by polio and did not plan to leave Sri Lanka again.[12]

In 1989 Clarke was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). The same year he became the first Chancellor of the International Space University, serving from 1989 to 2004 and he also served as Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka from 1979 to 2002.

On 26 May 2000 he was made a Knight Bachelor for his Services to Literature at a ceremony in Colombo. The investiture of the award had been delayed, at Clarke's request, since 1998 because of an accusation, by the British tabloid The Sunday Mirror, of paedophilia, was found to be baseless by Sri Lankan police and retracted by the paper soon after.[13][14][15][16][17] The award of knight bachelor carries the title of "Sir" and no post-nominal letters[18] meaning that the previous postfix of "CBE" stood.

In December 2007 on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video message to his friends and fans bidding them good-bye.[19]

Clarke died in Sri Lanka at 1:30am on 18 March 2008 local time ([[UTC+5:30]]), after suffering from breathing problems according to Rohan de Silva, one of his aides.[20][21][7]

Themes, style, and influences

Clarke's work is marked by an optimistic view of science empowering mankind's exploration of the solar system. His early published stories would usually feature the extrapolation of a technological innovation or scientific breakthrough into the underlying decadence of his own society.

"The Sentinel" (1948) introduced a religious theme to Clarke's work, a theme that he later explored more deeply in The City and the Stars. His interest in the paranormal was influenced by Charles Fort and embraced the belief that humanity may be the property of an ancient alien civilisation. Surprisingly for a writer who is often held up as an example of hard science fiction's obsession with technology, three of Clarke's novels have this as a theme[citation needed]. Another theme of "The Sentinel" was the notion that the evolution of an intelligent species would eventually make them something close to gods, which was also explored in his 1953 novel Childhood's End. He also briefly touched upon this idea in his novel Imperial Earth. This idea of transcendence through evolution seems to have been influenced by Olaf Stapledon, who wrote a number of books dealing with this theme. Clarke has said of Stapledon's 1930 book Last and First Men that "No other book had a greater influence on my life ... [It] and its successor Star Maker (1937) are the twin summits of [Stapledon's] literary career".[22]

Adapted screenplays

2001: A Space Odyssey

Clarke's first venture into film was the Stanley Kubrick-directed 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick and Clarke had met in 1964 to discuss the possibility of a collaborative film project. As the idea developed, it was decided that the story for the film was to be loosely based on Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", written in 1948 as an entry in a BBC short story competition. Originally, Clarke was going to write the screenplay for the film, but this proved to be more tedious than he had estimated. Instead, Kubrick and Clarke decided it would be best to write a novel first and then adapt it for the film upon its completion. However, as Clarke was finishing the book, the screenplay was also being written simultaneously.

Clarke's influence on the directing of 2001: A Space Odyssey is also felt in one of the most memorable scenes in the movie when astronaut Bowman shuts down HAL by removing modules from service one by one. As this happens, we witness HAL's consciousness degrading. By the time HAL's logic is completely gone, he begins singing the song Daisy Bell. This song was chosen based on a visit by Clarke to his friend and colleague John Pierce at the Bell Labs Murray Hill facility. A speech synthesis demonstration by physicist John Larry Kelly, Jr was taking place. Kelly was using an IBM 704 computer to synthesise speech. His voice recorder synthesiser vocoder reproduced the vocal for Daisy Bell, with musical accompaniment from Max Mathews. Arthur C. Clarke was so impressed that he later told Kubrick to use it in this climactic scene.[23]

Due to the hectic schedule of the film's production, Kubrick and Clarke had difficulty collaborating on the book. Clarke completed a draft of the novel at the end of 1964 with the plan to publish in 1965 in advance of the film's release in 1966. After many delays the film was released in the spring of 1968, before the book was completed. The book was credited to Clarke alone. Clarke later complained that this had the effect of making the book into a novelisation, that Kubrick had manipulated circumstances to downplay his authorship. For these and other reasons, the details of the story differ slightly from the book to the movie. The film is a bold artistic piece with little explanation for the events taking place. Clarke, on the other hand, wrote thorough explanations of "cause and effect" for the events in the novel. Despite their differences, both film and novel were well received.[24][25][26]

In 1972, Clarke published The Lost Worlds of 2001, which included his account of the production and alternate versions of key scenes. The "special edition" of the novel A Space Odyssey (released in 1999) contains an introduction by Clarke, documenting his account of the events leading to the release of the novel and film.

2010

In 1982 Clarke continued the 2001 epic with a sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two. This novel was also made into a film, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, directed by Peter Hyams for release in 1984. Due to the political environment in America in the 1980s, the novel and film present a Cold War theme, with the looming tensions of nuclear war. The film was not considered to be as revolutionary or artistic as 2001, but the reviews were still positive.

Clarke's email correspondence with Hyams was published in 1984. Titled The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010, and co-authored with Hyams, it illustrates his fascination with the then-pioneering medium and its use for them to communicate on an almost daily basis at the time of planning and production of the film while living on different continents. The book also includes Clarke's list of the best science-fiction films ever made.

Rendezvous with Rama

Clarke's award-winning 1972 novel Rendezvous with Rama was optioned many years ago, but is currently in "development hell". Director David Fincher is assigned to the project together with actor Morgan Freeman.

Essays and short stories

Most of Clarke's essays (from 1934 to 1998) can be found in the book Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! (2000). Most of his short stories can be found in the book The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001). Another collection of early essays was published in The View from Serendip (1977), which also included one short piece of fiction, "When the Twerms Came". He wrote short stories under the pseudonyms of E. G. O'Brien and Charles Willis. He also wrote a story called "The Secret."

Concept of the geostationary communications satellite

Clarke's most important scientific contribution may be his idea that geostationary satellites would be ideal telecommunications relays. He described this concept in a paper titled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays — Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?", published in Wireless World in October 1945. The geostationary orbit is now sometimes known as the Clarke Orbit or the Clarke Belt in his honour.

However, it is not clear that this article was actually the inspiration for the modern telecommunications satellite. John R. Pierce, of Bell Labs, arrived at the idea independently in 1954, and he was actually involved in the Echo satellite and Telstar projects. Moreover, Pierce stated that the idea was "in the air" at the time and certain to be developed regardless of Clarke's publication. Nevertheless, Clarke described the idea so thoroughly that his article has been cited as prior art in judgements denying patents on the concept.[citation needed]

Though different from Clarke's idea of telecom relay, the idea of communicating with satellites in geostationary orbit itself had been described earlier. For example, the concept of geostationary satellites was described in Hermann Oberth's 1923 book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen[27](The Rocket into Interplanetary Space) and then the idea of radio communication with those satellites in Herman Potočnik's (written by pseudonym Hermann Noordung) 1928 book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums — der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel — The Rocket Motor) section: Providing for Long Distance Communications and Safety [28] published in Berlin. Clarke acknowledged the earlier concept in his book Profiles of the Future.[29]

Awards, honors and other recognition

  • Following the release of 2001, Clarke became much in demand as a commentator on science and technology, especially at the time of the Apollo space program. The fame of 2001 was enough to get the Command Module of the Apollo 13 craft named "Odyssey".
  • In 1986, Clarke provided a grant to fund the prize money (initially £1,000) for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best science fiction novel published in Britain in the previous year. In 2001 the prize was increased to £2001, and its value now matches the year (e.g., £2005 in 2005).
  • In 2003, Sir Arthur was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology where he appeared on stage via a 3-D hologram with a group of old friends which included Jill Tarter, Neil Armstrong, Lewis Branscomb, Charles Townes, Freeman Dyson, Bruce Murray and Scott Brown.
  • In 2005 he lent his name to the inaugural Sir Arthur Clarke Awards — dubbed "the Space Oscars". His brother attended the awards ceremony, and presented an award specially chosen by Arthur (and not by the panel of judges who chose the other awards) to the British Interplanetary Society.
  • On 14 November 2005 Sri Lanka awarded Arthur C. Clarke its highest civilian award, the Sri Lankabhimanya (The Pride of Sri Lanka) , for his contributions to science and technology and his commitment to his adopted country.
  • An asteroid was named in Clarke's honour, 4923 Clarke (the number was assigned prior to, and independently of, the name - 2001, however appropriate, was unavailable, having previously been assigned to Albert Einstein).
  • As featured on Sky One's "50 Terrible Predictions" programme, Clarke once predicted that apes would function as household servants by the 1960's; "...with our present knowledge of animal psychology, we can certainly solve the servant problem with the help of the monkey kingdom" he said, but quipped "..of course, eventually, our super chimpanzees would start forming trade unions and we'd be right back where we started."

Partial bibliography

Novels

Omnibus editions

  • Across the Sea of Stars (1959) (including Childhood's End, Earthlight and 18 short stories)
  • From the Ocean, From the Stars (1962) (including The City and the Stars, The Deep Range and The Other Side of the Sky)
  • An Arthur C. Clarke Omnibus (1965) (including Childhood's End, Prelude to Space and Expedition to Earth)
  • Prelude to Mars (1965) (including Prelude to Space and The Sands of Mars)
  • The Lion of Comarre & Against the Fall of Night (1968)
  • An Arthur C. Clarke Second Omnibus (1968) (including A Fall of Moondust, Earthlight and The Sands of Mars)
  • Four Great SF Novels (1978) (including The City and the Stars, The Deep Range, A Fall of Moondust, Rendezvous with Rama)
  • The Space Trilogy (2001) (including Islands in the Sky, Earthlight and The Sands of Mars)

Short story collections

Non-fiction

  • Interplanetary Flight: an introduction to astronautics. London: Temple Press, 1950
  • The Exploration of Space. New York: Harper, 1951
  • The Coast of Coral. New York: Harper, 1957 — Volume 1 of the Blue planet trilogy
  • The Reefs of Taprobane; Underwater Adventures around Ceylon. New York: Harper, 1957 — Volume 2 of the Blue planet trilogy
  • The Making of a Moon: the Story of the Earth Satellite Program. New York: Harper, 1957
  • Boy beneath the sea, Photos by Mike Wilson. Text by Arthur C. Clarke. New York: Harper, 1958
  • The Challenge of the Space Ship: Previews of Tomorrow’s World. New York: Harper, 1959
  • The Challenge of the Sea. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960
  • Profiles of the Future; an Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible. New York: Harper & Row, 1962
  • The Treasure of the Great Reef. New York: Harper & Row, 1964 — Volume 3 of the Blue planet trilogy
  • Voices from the Sky: Previews of the Coming Space Age. New York: Harper & Row, 1965
  • The Promise of Space. New York: Harper, 1968
  • Into Space: a Young Person’s Guide to Space, by Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Silverberg. New York: Harper & Row, 1971
  • Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations. New York: Harper & Row, 1972
  • The Lost Worlds of 2001. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1972
  • Voice Across the Sea. HarperCollins, 1975
  • The View from Serendip. Random House, 1977
  • The Odyssey File. Email correspondence with Peter Hyams. London: Panther Books, 1984
  • 1984, Spring: a Choice of Futures. New York: Ballantine Books, 1984
  • Ascent to Orbit, a Scientific Autobiography: The Technical Writings of Arthur C. Clarke. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1984
  • Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography. London: Gollancz, 1989
  • How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village. New York : Bantam Books, 1992 — A history and survey of the communications revolution
  • By Space Possessed. London: Gollancz, 1993
  • The Snows of Olympus - A Garden on Mars (1994, picture album with comments)
  • An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, 1995, St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-15119-5 (Online Version)
  • Fractals: The Colors of Infinity (1997, narrator)
  • Arthur C. Clarke & Lord Dunsany: A Correspondence 1945-1956. ed. Keith Allen Daniels. Palo Alto, CA, USA: Anamnesis Press, 1998.
  • Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! : Collected Works 1934-1988. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999
  • Profiles of the Future; an Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible (updated edition). New York: Harper & Row, 1999, ISBN 057506790X, ISBN 9780575067905
  • From Narnia to a Space Odyssey: The War of Letters Between Arthur C. Clarke and C. S. Lewis (2003) with C. S. Lewis
  • The Coming of the Space Age; famous accounts of man's probing of the universe, selected and edited by Arthur C. Clarke.

In popular culture

  • Clarke attempted to write a six word story as part of a Wired Magazine article but wrote ten words instead. ("God said, 'Cancel Program GENESIS.' The universe ceased to exist.") He refused to lower the word count.[31]
  • At the start of the movie 2010, Dr. Heywood Floyd is engaged in a conversation in front of the White House. Clarke is the man feeding the pigeons to the left of the shot. Later on in the movie, in the hospital scene where Mrs. Bowman dies, the cover of Time shows a photograph of Clarke as the American president, and one of Kubrick as the Russian Premier.
  • He survived the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which did however claim his "Arthur C. Clarke Diving School" at Hikkaduwa,[32] which has since been rebuilt.
  • He was a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.
  • Clarke's novel, Songs of Distant Earth, was the theme for an album of the same name released by ambient musician Mike Oldfield, the creator of the 1973 album Tubular Bells. Most of the sections in the album are named after elements of the novel, such as "The Space Elevator" and "The Sunken Forest". The inlay/sleevenotes include a short piece written by Clarke. Oldfield also used other titles from Clarke's work for songs, including "Sentinel" and "Sunjammer", on Tubular Bells II.
  • In the Millennium (TV series) the log in voice phrases for Peter Watts and Lara Means are quotes from 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • The Divine Comedy recorded a song entitled "Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World" for their 2006 album, Victory For The Comic Muse, in tribute to Clarke's well-known TV programme.
  • In an episode of The Goodies, Arthur C. Clarke's show is cancelled after it is claimed he doesn't exist (it is later claimed in the same episode that Clarke was just Graeme Garden in a wig).

Quotes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • "Life is just one big banana. Science fiction allows us all to peel open the reality and discover the yellow truth inside."
  1. "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
  2. "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."
  3. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
  • "The truth, as always, will be far stranger."
  • "Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering."
  • "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean."
  • Of UFOs: "They tell us absolutely nothing about intelligence elsewhere in the universe, but they do prove how rare it is on Earth."
  • "Somewhere in me is a curiosity sensor. I want to know what's over the next hill. You know, people can live longer without food than without information. Without information, you'd go crazy."
  • "The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion."
  • "We should always be prepared for future technologies, because otherwise they will come along and clobber us."

See also

Cited references

  1. ^ a b "books and writers" Arthur Charles Clarke bio, retrieved 2008-03-18.
  2. ^ a b "Science fiction author Arthur C Clarke dies aged 90", The Times, 18 March 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-19. “Science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died aged 90 in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, it was confirmed tonight.” 
  3. ^ Arthur C. Clarke Extra Terrestrial Relays. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  4. ^ Peacetime Uses for V2 (JPG). Wireless World (February 1945). Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  5. ^ EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL RELAYS Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?. Wireless World (October 1945). Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  6. ^ McAleer, Neil. "Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography", Contemporary Books, Chicago, 1992. ISBN 0-8092-3720-2
  7. ^ a b c "Arthur C. Clarke, Premier Science Fiction Writer, Dies at 90.", New York Times, March 18, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-19. “Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died early Wednesday [1] in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90.” 
  8. ^ Happy Birthday Sir Arthur C. Clarke!. Sunday Observer (20051211). Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  9. ^ Personal e-mail from Sir Arthur Clarke to Jerry Stone, Director of the Sir Arthur Clarke Awards, 1 November 2006
  10. ^ Chart of the Future. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  11. ^ SFWA Grand Masters
  12. ^ Video greeting to NASA JPL by Arthur C. Clarke. Retrieved 24 September 2007
  13. ^ Sci-fi novelist cleared of sex charges. Retrieved on 2008-02-11.
  14. ^ Clarke Denies Pedophile Allegations. Science Fiction News of the Week (19980206). Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  15. ^ Arthur C. Clarke. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  16. ^ Arthur C. Clarke. NNDB. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  17. ^ File 770:123. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  18. ^ Orders of Chivalry. British Government. Retrieved on 2007-08-30.
  19. ^ Sir Arthur C Clarke 90th Birthday reflections (2007-12-10). Retrieved on 2008-02-22.
  20. ^ Writer Arthur C Clarke dies at 90, BBC News, 18 March 2008
  21. ^ Sci-fi guru Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90, MSNBC, 18 March 2008
  22. ^ Arthur C. Clarke Quotes. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  23. ^ Bell Labs: Where "HAL" First Spoke (Bell Labs Speech Synthesis Web Site). Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  24. ^ Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  25. ^ Movies. Go.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  26. ^ Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  27. ^ Kelso, Dr. T. S. (1998-05-01). Basics of the Geostationary Orbit. Satellite Times. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
  28. ^ Providing for Long Distance Communcations and Safety. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
  29. ^ Clarke, Arthur C. (1984). Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into the Limits of the Possible. New York, New York: Holt, Rinehart & WIlson, 205n. ISBN 0030697832.  "INTELSAT, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation which operates the global system, has started calling it the Clarke orbit. Flattered though I am, honesty compels me to point out that the concept of such an orbit predates my 1945 paper 'Extra Terrestrial Relays' by at least twenty years. I didn't invent it, but only annexed it."
  30. ^ Burns, John F. "Colombo Journal; A Nonfiction Journey to a More Peaceful World" New York Times, November 28, 1994
  31. ^ Wired 14.11: Very Short Stories
  32. ^ Author Arthur Clarke loses Lanka school - Sify.com

External links