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Arthur C. Clarke RIP

volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
edited March 2008 in Strut Central
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. local time after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in 1956, lured by his interest in marine diving ??? which he said was as close as he could get to the weightless feeling of space. ???I???m perfectly operational underwater,??? he once said.Clarke's best-known novel, "2001: A Space Odyssey," became the basis of the 1968 film of the same name, directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film and the book elevated the plot's mentally unbalanced computer, HAL 9000, into the pantheon of great fictional characters.Three "2001" book sequels followed, and one of them ??? "2010" ??? was made into a movie as well.In addition to the "2001" series, Clarke's best-known works included "Childhood's End" and "Rendezvous With Rama." The latter novel is reportedly being adapted for film, with actor Morgan Freeman as producer and star.Clarke was regarded as a technological seer as well as a science-fiction writer. He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.Another novel of his, titled "The Fountains of Paradise," sparked the real-world efforts to build a space elevator from Earth to orbit.He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as a commentator on NASA's Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.Clarke was born in 1917 in the English coastal town of Minehead, the eldest of four children. Although he spent his early years in Britain, Sri Lanka was his adopted home. On the occasion of his 90th birthday last December, one of Clarke's three wishes was to see lasting peace in the island nation, which has been divided by ethnic conflict.Clarke also wished that the world would embrace cleaner energy resources ??? and that extraterrestrial beings would "call us or give us a sign.""We have no way of guessing when this might happen," Clarke said in his birthday speech. "I hope sooner rather than later."This report includes information from The Associated Press and msnbc.com. Check back for updates on this breaking-news story.?? 2008 MSNBC Interactive

  Comments

  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    Straight up visionary! So many forward thinking views that we're still trying to wrap our heads around. 30 years ago he said that Europa had an ice crust with an ocean underneath that might hold life. NASA descided they agreed about 2 years ago.
  • rayray 77 Posts
    ...one small thing: I had always thought that 2001 was written concurrently with the filming of the movie. Wasn't the film actually released before the book's publication?

    Regardless, his novels were certainly a fixture of my childhood. Definitely one of the first authors to really spark my imagination. God rest a true genius...even if he didn't believe in God himself...
  • DrBorisQDrBorisQ 298 Posts
    ...one small thing: I had always thought that 2001 was written concurrently with the filming of the movie. Wasn't the film actually released before the book's publication?

    Yeah it was.

    The sad loss of a true genius.
  • OutsiderOutsider 59 Posts
    R.I.P.
    "Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering."

    "Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the non-existence of Zeus or Thor - but they have few followers now."
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    RIP
    That muthafucka was tha sheeeeeeeeeit!
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,475 Posts

    The sad loss of a true genius.

    Indeed.

    RIP
  • mylatencymylatency 10,475 Posts
    Childhood's end and the Rama series are favorites of mine.

    Can't wait for the RAMA movie.

    Godspeed Arthur C. Clarke, RIP.
  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    Only read a few of his novels over the years but enjoyed every one of them.

    RIP
  • DJ_ZestDJ_Zest 252 Posts

    Can't wait for the RAMA movie.



    That whole series would make an EPIC movie saga...

    He was my 1st favorite author, closely followed by William Gibson...

    RIP!

    "The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible."

    Arthur C Clarke
  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    He used to come back to my (and his) old school every year. He was a nice feller as well as an authentic genius.
  • dmacdmac 472 Posts
    Truly the great loss of an incredible thinker.

    A few years ago, I had the honor of designing the logo for the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation.
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