Arthur Charles Clarke (16 Dec 1917 - 19 March 2008) A tribute to this vision...
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Arthur Charles Clarke (16 Dec 1917 - 19 March 2008) A tribute to this visionary:
"I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these, I would like to be remembered as a writer." - Arthur C Clarke.
Arthur C Clarke, writer and futurist, the man who told the world about geostationary satellites, man on the moon, space elevators is no more. He was suffering from post-polio syndrome since the 1960s.
Arthur C Clarke's three "laws" of scientific prediction:
- 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.
- The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Clarke added a fourth law in 1999: "For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert."
When I was a teenager the list of my heroes included Arthur C Clarke. Stanley Kubrick's film of Clarke's novel 2001: A Spcae Odyssey had made him into a global hero.
Let us take a brief look at the life of this extraordinarily talented person who died barely a fortnight ago.
Born in Somerset in 1917 to a family of farmers. He studied at Huish's Grammar School in Taunton. He entered the civil service. But World War II saw him joining the Royal Air Force. He joined the section which was entrusted with the task of developing radars. It was while working here that he foresaw the concept of communication satellites especially the concept of geostationary satellites. He regretted not having patented the idea of geostationary satellites. It is said that a lawyer he had consulted had dissuaded him from doing so. According to a British newspaper he could not have taken a patent as he was a serving RAF officer. He had an uncanny ability to predict scientific developments. In the 1940s he predicted that man would reach the moon by the 1970s. A claim many took very sceptically. But humanity attained that target in 1969 when Neil Armstrong set foot on lunar surface.
He was demobilised from The RAF in 1946 by which time he had reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant. After serving his stint in the RAF he went to King's College on the British equivalent of the American GI bill and took a degree in Math and Physics. He became a full time writer in the late 40s. He inspired Gene Roddenberry to create Star Trek.
He was married in 1953 to Marilyn Mayfield and divorced in 1964. He and his wife had no children. He never married again. In 1956 he chose to settle in Sri Lanka and he stayed there till his death.
In 1968 his short story The Sentinel was turned into a film 2001: A Space Odyssey by the director Stanley Kubrick. He and Kubrick collaborated on the screenplay.
He had met the British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore at the British Interplanetary Society as a teenager and they were lifelong friends. Sir Moore praised Clarke for his sincerity and sense of humour. This is what the BBC says that Patrick Moore had to say on hearing the news of Clarke's death "A great science fiction writer, a very good scientist, a great prophet and a very dear friend. "
I found these words of Moore on Clarke in the tribute that the Guardian paid him "He was a great visionary, a brilliant science fiction writer and a great forecaster. He foresaw communications satellites, a nationwide network of computers, interplanetary travel; he said there would be a man on the moon by 1970, while I said 1980 - and he was right."
The same article (link given below) also quotes Clarke: "At the present rate of progress, it is almost impossible to imagine any technical feat that cannot be achieved - if it can be achieved at all - within the next few hundred years,"
He was interested in underwater exploration and scuba diving and he set up a diving school in a place called Hikkaduwa near Colombo. This was badly damaged due to the tsunami which struck South East and South Asia a few years ago.
He had reviewed the final manuscript of his novel The Last Theorem which he had co-authored with Frederik Pohl. This novel is due for publication later this year.
He was knighted by the British Government but the ceremony had to be delayed by two years because of Clarke's own request. He was accused of being a paedophile but the Sri Lankan government says that these accusations cannot be proved. Most probably these rumours were spread by people who were jealous of him and his stature in the world. " We had no case against Clarke and no one had come forward to say they were abused by him," Jagath Wellawatte chief of the National Child Protection Authority, Sri Lanka.
If you want to pay tribute to this man who was infected with childlike wonder all his life I would recommend you click on the links given below and try to read at least one of his works - the short story The Nine Billion Names of God for instance. His gravestone will have the following epitaph inscribed on it: "Here lies Arthur C Clarke. He never grew up and did not stop growing."
Links on this great man:
Obituary in The Times Online.
Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle in space pay tribute to Arthur C Clarke.
Jane Sullivan's tribute to Clarke in The Age (Australia)
Obituary in The New York Times
The Last Rendezvous with Arthur C Clarke by Andrew Leonard (Salon)
An Appraisal of Arthur C Clarke by Edward Rothstein (New York Times)
Tribute in The Guardian by Sarah Knopton
Tribute in The Telegraph (U.K.)
The Wikipedia article on Clarke's Three Laws
The Wikipedia article on Clarke (extremely informative) Close
Hi palahali... Yes the opening scene and music of 2001: A Space Odyssey was awesome... Isn't it ironical that when many of Clarke's predictions have come true he himself is an almost forgotten man....
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Nice tribute to a great man ! I just caanot forget the opening scene and music of 2001, Space Odessey. It was the music of THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSHTRA . Thanks
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Hi Sampath... Yes Arthur C Clarke had an uncanny ability to see into the future... not unlike the radars he worked on during World War II which could 'see' German planes before they reached England.
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very useful info .. liked the video...
the three laws are amazing....
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Hi Sivaram.... Yes Arthur C Clarke lived a fascinating and creative life.... No wonder he is a hero to millions of science and sci-fi aficionados all over the world....
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Mr Dev Kumar
This blog is very informative.It is quite amazing to know details on Clarke a visonary .a scientist and also a science fiction writer.
You have given useful links for us to get a bigger picture about this great person
Found this very interesting.
Thanks
Sivaram
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Hi vasudha... Arthur C Clarke may have predicted many of today's scientific developments but I wonder how many people know of him today.... Especially those of the younger generation... thanks for yr comment...
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Hi Dev,
A touching and a very informative tribute to a great writer
thank you
vasudha
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