R.I.P. Arthur C. Clarke

Woah - maybe he's alive now, CNN just took down the developing story banner.

Now I'm confused...
 
:(Deeply shocked and saddened...we will not see his like again. A truly visionary man, one of the greats of science fiction.:(
 
Damn this is very sad.

Just weeks ago i was reading about and celebrating his birthday :(
 
Yes very sad.

Another great Sci-Fi writer shuffles this mortal coil.

One of the first great writers that got me hooked on Sci-Fi.
 
This is sad new indeed. RIP Arthur. You will always be remembered through your words.
 
Ananova says that the report comes from the internationally-renowned Sri Lankan pianist Rohan De Silva. Maybe CNN took it down because it is unconfirmed, but I can't see him lying.
Science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke has died, according to an aide.

Rohan De Silva said Clarke died after suffering from breathing problems. He was 90-years-old.

Clarke was the author of more than 100 books, including 2001: A Space Odyssey.

He had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair.

He 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.

He was the co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, but he was regarded as far more than 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.

He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the US Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s, and won worldwide acclaim for his writings on space, science and the future.
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I just found out about this as a text message just as i was finishing work. I just stopped dead in my tracks. He has been such an influence on me i just can't believe it,its like losing a close friend. Damn I'm gutted :(
 
In remembrance...

So, Clarke Orbits keep satellites in orbit, and mechanical hands (remote manipulators) are known as waldoes, a term taken from a Robert Heinlein story. Asimov gave us the laws of Robotics, and Sturgeon gave us Sutrgeon's Law (90% of everything is crap).

What other good things have come from the minds of science fiction authors?

(Scientology and Dianetics don't count)
 
It's deeply sad; I saw this and felt similiar to the way I did when Eric Morcambe died, I wondered why. I think it's because they represent a space in the imagination, a loss of a unique vision, and because of this the world is a little less.
 
The first real science fiction I read, and some of the most memorable short stories ever.
 
Arthur C Clarke has passed away!!!

What a terrible news for sci-fi and the world of science in general.

Most known for 2001, he had some amazing books I had read, like Fountains of Paradise, The City and the Stars, Childhood´s End...

Rest in Peace!



[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Science Fiction Writer Arthur C. Clarke Dies at Age of 90
[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]By The Associated Press and SPACE.com Staff

[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica]posted: 2008 March 18
6:30 p.m. ET[/FONT]
Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died, the Associated Press reported.
Rohan De Silva said Clarke died early Wednesday after suffering from breathing problems, AP reported. He was 90-years-old. He suffered from post-polio syndrome and was confined to a wheelchair toward the end of his life.
Clarke has written more than 100 sci fi books, including "2001 A Space Odissey'' He is credited with inventing the communications satellite and predicting space travel before rockets were even test fired.
[FONT=&quot]Early Life
[FONT=&quot]Clarke was born to a family of farmers in Minehead, a town in Somerset, England.
[FONT=&quot]He fed an early interest in science fiction among the pages of Amazing Stories (later Astounding, but now published again under its original banner). [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the 1930s, he joined the British Interplanetary Society, which he chaired for two terms, and was active in SF fandom, where his self-promotional efforts earned him the nickname "Ego," which he keeps to this day. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]During World War 2, he trained users of the Ground Operated Approach Radar, the military ancestor to today's air traffic control systems, then completed a college degree (with honors) in physics and mathematics at King's College, London. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The road of gold[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Since 1956, Clarke has resided in Sri Lanka as the island nation's sole honorary citizen, engaging in underwater exploration and participating in the management of a diving tour company, Underwater Safaris. However, he is most familiar to global audiences as a futurist and advocate of technology and interplanetary exploration.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]With Walter Cronkite, who would become a lifelong friend, he co-anchored CBS television coverage of the launches of Apollo 11, 12 and 15. Continuing his career in television, Clarke has hosted such investigative programs as "Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World", "World of Strange Powers" and "Mysterious Universe". [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Among his many honors, Clarke is one of only 17 writers ever named a Science Fiction Grand Master. In addition, he has received the UNESCO Kalinga Award for advancing interest in science, as well as nominations for both an Academy Award nomination, for 2001 (shared with Stanley Kubrick), and a Nobel Peace Prize, for laying the conceptual groundwork for the creation of orbital communications satellites. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He has served as a fellow at alma mater King's College and serves to this day as chancellor of both the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka and International Space University.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He has received both the Order of the British Empire (promoted to Commander of the British Empire in 1998) and the Vidya Jyothi, the highest honor bestowed by the Sri Lankan government. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He is most likely the only person to both appear on two Sri Lankan stamps -- commemorating the 50th anniversary of telecommunications in that country -- and to have an asteroid named in his honor.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On a more personal level, luminaries ranging from Carl Sagan, Alexei Leonov and Willy Ley to Wernher von Braun, Rupert Murdoch and Isaac Asimov have called Clarke friend.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Service to science[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]With such an impressive resume, it would be easy to forget that Clarke's greatest significance is as one of the century's great popularizers of scientific thought, especially through the medium of science fiction. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Combining a genuine optimism for humanity's future with visionary insight and an almost equally uncanny ability to explain difficult points of science, Clarke's body of genre work is likely one of the most significant in this century. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As a futurist, he has enjoyed such a level of success that he has attributed the failure of humanity to build lunar colonies or send piloted missions to Jupiter to shortcomings on our part, not his.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Happily, many of his other significant predictions have come true, although the prophecy may have worked at least partially to fulfill itself. In Rendezvous with Rama (1973), he created "Project Spaceguard," an organization dedicated to tracking asteroids likely to intersect with the Earth. When the real world caught up with him in 1996, its founders named it "Spaceguard" in homage.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Clarke may one day be pleased to add saving all life on Earth from meteoric extinction to his already considerable list of accomplishments. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Meanwhile, his science advocacy continues through such organizations as The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation, which promotes the ideas and concerns of his life and work (especially space exploration, future studies and ocean conservation), the Arthur C. Clarke Institute For Modern Technologies at University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, given annually to outstanding British science fiction novels.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Three Laws[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Writer and critic George Zebrowski, a good friend of Clarke and a recognized expert on his work, has stated that Clarke's Three Laws are central to appreciating the man's work. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Not only are these aphorisms fundamental elements of Clarke's literary legacy, but some would argue that they comprise a valuable contribution to 20th-Century popular thought. They are:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1) When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. Corollary: When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2) The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to venture beyond them into the impossible. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3) Any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Third Law is widely quoted and appears in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The global village[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Clarke has so relentlessly promoted the exploration of space, while celebrating cultural and geographic differences here on Earth, that he has been called "our solar system's first regionalist." [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thanks to his deep love for his adopted Sri Lanka and its people, Clarke has become a true citizen of the global village he helped to create. The international popularity of his work transcends political boundaries, allowing him to bridge the chasm between the U.S. space program, the Russians and his native United Kingdom throughout the Cold War era. How many men of this century could count both Alexei Leonov and Walter Cronkite as friends?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Today, Clarke's outspoken criticism of individual countries' tendency to nationalize the exploration of space shows that he still feels that the leap to other worlds is far too important -- if not too vast -- an undertaking to be constrained by concepts so transient as "nation-states."[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He often seems disappointed with us, but his fiction shows that he never wavers in his belief that the future will be a time of wonders, and that humanity, given time and common sense, will inevitably transcend the limits of gravity. [/FONT]
Legacy
In 2007 Clarke celebrated his 90th birthday.
"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered,'' Clarke said at the celebration. "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.''
He listed three wishes on his birthday: for the world to embrace cleaner energy resources, for a lasting peace in his adopted home, Sri Lanka, and for evidence of extraterrestrial beings.
"I have always believed that we are not alone in this universe,'' Clarke said.
Humans are waiting until extraterrestrial beings "call us or give us a sign,'' he said. "We have no way of guessing when this might happen. I hope sooner rather than later.''

[/FONT][/FONT]
 
I just heard it on the radio. 90 years is pretty good and he gave the world so much in those 90 years. He worked on radar systems during WWII, posed geosynchronous satellites and space elevators and wrote a few great stories, including a special one that was translated into a film that made everyone sit up and go "Whoa!". Thank you Mr Clarke.
 
mosaix said:
There are fewer and fewer of them left.
Click to expand...

Sad but true, Mosaix...I hope that ACC, the Dean and the Good Doctor are sitting around a celestial table, quaffing a vintage nectar, and bemoaning the calibre of some of their successors....
 
It was like having the wind knocked out of me when I first saw this. On a little reflection, however, what a marvelous life! Although the world is the worse for his passing, it is so much richer for his having been here. I’m trying to take more of a celebrate-his-life view, rather than mourning his loss. For this wonderful man, I prefer a wake to a funeral.
 
Arthur C. Clarke Dies at Age 90

Article from CBC News.

Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90


Last Updated: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 | 7:13 PM ET


Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and a man considered one of the world's top science fiction writers, has died.


He was 90. An aide announced his death Tuesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956.


He died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.
 
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