Arthur C. Clarke kindled imagination of all

P. KRISHNASWAMY

“Sir Arthur C. Clarke is remembered as the father of communication satellite and the geostationary orbit is now sometimes known as the Clarke Orbit or the Clarke Belt in his honour”, said eminent Indian scientist Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan.

He was speaking at the first commemoration ceremony of the legendary Sri Lankan science fiction writer and founder of the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, held at the BMICH last Friday.

Dr. Kasturirangan, Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies at Bangalore and Chairman of the Indian Space Programme until 2003 with several international honours and awards to his credit, delivered the memorial lecture on ‘Space Odyssey - A down to Earth Perspective’.

He said that he chose to speak on the theme of SPACE for a number of reasons.

Firstly Sir Arthur C. Clarke dealt with that special subject in several of his writings kindling the imagination of everyone irrespective of age; secondly, it is a new dimension of human endeavour hardly half a century old, but with a high promise for the future humanity; thirdly, it is exciting and promotes the spirit of exploration and adventure; fourthly, the vantage point of space has already demonstrated its ability to enhance the quality of life on the earth if used properly, and last but not least, he himself has spent nearly all his professional life in facing the challenges and endeavours of a space endeavour.

Science fiction written by those great writers like Sir Arthur C. Clarke were really helpful in the progress of science and technology and his visions of space travel and communication sparked the imagination of readers and scientists alike all over the world, Dr.Kasturirangan said, adding that Sir Patrick Moore in his obituary paid his tributes by rightly describing him as “a great science fiction writer, a very good scientist, a great prophet and a very dear friend.”

The Indian scientist speaking further on the subject said that according to Arthur C. Clarke a sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and the only way discover the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

He quoted Clarke’s own words on the island from his “View From the Serendip, 1977”:“The island of Ceylon is a small universe; it contains as many variations of culture, scenery, and climate as some countries a dozen times its size.

Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Minister of Science and Technology said that Sir Clarke who came to Sri Lanka as a scuba diver to explore the waters of the country continued his mental exploration of the universe from Sri Lanka right upto his demise last year.