Sir Arthur C. Clarke:

Revolutionary writer and futurist

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, who died in Sri Lanka on March 19, despite being a British by birth, was synonymous with Sri Lanka. As Sri Lanka's most famous residential guest, he was responsible in his own way for bringing recognition to this tiny island in the Indian Ocean, where he made his home.

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke's science fiction novels made uncanny(strange) predictions about the future, while at the same time he was making significant discoveries in the real world.

A prolific writer, Sir Arthur is credited with foreseeing such phenomena (happenings) as the frequent use of satellites, space travel and mobile phones.

Sir Arthur, who came from a farming family, was born in Minehead, Somerset in England on December 16, 1917, but spent the last 50 years in his adopted home of Sri Lanka.

After leaving school, he moved to London in 1936 and pursued his early interest in space sciences by joining the British Interplanetary Society (BIS).

He started to contribute to the BIS Bulletin and began to write science fiction.

During the Second World War, he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF), eventually becoming an officer in charge of the first radar talk-down equipment - the Ground Controlled Approach - during its experimental trials. His only non-science-fiction novel, Glide Path, was based on this work.

After the war, Sir Arthur returned to London and to the BIS, becoming its president in 1947-50 and again in 1953.

In 1945, a periodical magazine, Wireless World, 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.

While developing his theories, he worked with scientists and engineers in the US in the development of spacecraft and launch systems.

Sir Arthur's work, which led to the global satellite systems in use today, brought him numerous honours and academic recognition. Today, the geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometres above the equator is named The Clarke Orbit by the International Astronomical Union.

After leaving the RAF in 1946, he was awarded a Fellowship at King's College, London, to study for a degree in mathematics and physics, graduating with first class honours.

In terms of Sir Arthur as an author, 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 and with more than 70 titles to his name.

In 1964, he started to work with film producer Stanley Kubrick on a science fiction movie script.

Four years later, he shared an Oscar nomination with Kubrick for the film version of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Then, in 1985, he published a sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two and worked with Peter Hyams on the film version.

His thirteen-part TV series Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World in 1981 and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers in 1984 has been screened in many countries.

Sir Arthur first visited Colombo in December 1954 and lived there from 1956 onwards, pursuing a passion for underwater exploration.

In his latter years, he was largely confined to a wheelchair due to post-polio syndrome, but his output as a writer continued undiminished.

In 1998, he was honoured with a knighthood - formally conferred by Prince Charles in Sri Lanka two years later.

Awards, honours and other recognition

* Clarke received the honours CBE in 1989 and was knighted in 2000. Clarke's health did not allow him to travel to London to receive the honour personally from the Queen, so the United Kingdom's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka invested him as a Knight Bachelor at a ceremony in Colombo.

* In 1994, Clarke was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by law professor Glenn Reynolds.

* The 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter is named in honour of Sir Arthur's works.

* 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".

* On November 14, 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).

* A species of ceratopsian dinosaur, Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei, discovered in Inverloch in Australia.

* The Learning Resource Center at Richard Huish College, Taunton, which Clarke attended when it was Huish Grammar School, is named after him.

* Clarke was a distinguished vice-president of the H.G. Wells Society, being strongly influenced by H. G. Wells as a science fiction writer.

Some of Sir Clarke's works

Novels

Prelude to Space

The Sands of Mars

Islands in the Sky

Against the Fall of Night

Childhood's End

Earthlight

The City and the Stars

The Deep Range

A Fall of Moondust

Dolphin Island

Glide Path

2001: A Space Odyssey

Rendezvous with Rama

Imperial Earth

The Fountains of Paradise

2010: Odyssey Two

The Songs of Distant Earth

2061: Odyssey Three

A Meeting with Medusa

The Hammer of God

3001: The Final Odyssey

Short story collections

Expedition to Earth

Reach for Tomorrow

Tales from the White Hart

The Other Side of the Sky

Tales of Ten Worlds

The Nine Billion Names of God

Of Time and Stars

The Wind from the Sun

The Best of Arthur C. Clarke

The Sentinel

Tales From Planet Earth

More Than One Universe

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke