Clarke, Arthur C. (1917-2008), was a British-born author of science fiction and related nonfiction. His novels are noted for their blend of scientific accuracy and spiritual optimism, and many of them describe the exploration of other worlds. The novels include Childhood’s End (1953), his finest single work; The City and the Stars (1956); Rendezvous with Rama (1973); and The Fountains of Paradise (1979). With the American film director Stanley Kubrick, Clarke wrote the screenplay for the motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Clarke also wrote an adaptation of the film as a novel, published in 1968, and continued the story with the novels 2010: Odyssey Two (1982), 2061: Odyssey Three (1988), and 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997). His short fiction was published in Collected Stories (2001).
Arthur Charles Clarke was born on Dec. 16, 1917, in Somerset County, England, and settled in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the mid-1950’s. He was the first person to propose communications satellites. Clarke’s book The Exploration of Space (1951) helped make the idea of space travel popular in the 1950’s. His nonfiction works include Interplanetary Flight (1950), The Challenge of the Sea (1960), Profiles of the Future (1962), The View from Serendip (1977), and Astounding Days: A Science Fiction Autobiography (1990). In 1998, Clarke was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and thus became known as Sir Arthur Clarke. He died on March 19, 2008.
