Literature
Arthur C. Clarke
Science fiction writer, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Born 1917 · Died 2008
Photo: ITU Pictures · CC BY 2.0
«Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.»
Arthur C. Clarke wrote more than thirty books of science fiction and popular science, and co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick. In 1945 he described the geostationary communications satellite, two decades before one existed.
Key achievements
- Described the geostationary communications satellite in 1945
- Co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick
Universities
London
Took a first-class degree in mathematics and physics in 1948, after wartime service on radar.
Facts
- His 1945 article proposing satellites in geostationary orbit is why that orbit is sometimes called the Clarke Belt.
- He wrote the third of his three laws, that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
- He lived in Sri Lanka for over fifty years, drawn there by scuba diving.
Photographs
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences; the author and licence are shown on each image.