Arthur C. Clarke Dies at 90: Farewell Old Friend

[Ivan Seeking]

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Arthur C. Clarke, the U.K. science- fiction writer and futurist visionary best known for the novel adapted for the film ``2001: A Space Odyssey,'' has died. He was 90.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=axkmx6LQPGFQ&refer=home

Clarke had an enormous influence on my teen years and early adult life. Farewell old friend.

 

[mgb_phys]

I hadn't realized that what I quoted in another thread was from Clarke's three laws:

"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."

The last of the Golden Age of SF .

 

[turbo]

Farewell Arthur Clarke. He was a visionary.

 

[Evo]

I loved his science fiction short stories.

 

[Astronuc]

RIP AC. I enjoyed his stories, which fed my imagination.

 

[waht]

Kurt Vonnegut died recently too, and now Clark. This is too much.

He was my hero and his books are one of my priced possessions. The man was the 20th century DaVinci.

May he rest in the outer reaches of the cosmos.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Noteworthy: The Clarke Belt

The idea of a geosynchronous satellite for communication purposes was first published in 1928 by Herman Potočnik. The geostationary orbit was first popularised by science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke in 1945 as a useful orbit for communications satellites. As a result this is sometimes referred to as the Clarke orbit. Similarly, the Clarke Belt is the part of space approximately 35,786 km above mean sea level in the plane of the equator where near-geostationary orbits may be achieved.

wiki

 

[Helios]

Rip

He was my favorite author. He could tell a story but you'd end up learning a lot of science. His visions of the future were always optimistic and seemingly possible. I'd say he inspired many to pursue scientific careers.

 

[Garth]

My favourite of his was the "The Sands of Mars".

I am still waiting for reality to catch up with his imagination.

Garth

 

[Andre]

I hadn't realized that what I quoted in another thread was from Clarke's three laws:

"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."

The last of the Golden Age of SF .

Isn't that more than enough to get banned from PF??

 

[mgb_phys]

Isn't that more than enough to get banned from PF??

Sorry that went right past me!

I quoted the first law in a thread about AIDS always being incurable, I though it was Bohr or Feynman who had said it - it was only reading the wiki article I realized it was Clarke.

 

[Janus]

And so passes the last of the "Big Three".

 

[waht]

Clarke's goodbye to the world

 

[arildno]

Thank you for what you left behind for us, Mr. Clarke.

 

[hypatia]

I loved reading his books and short stories, what great skills he had. Thanks for adding the clip from YouTube, it was wonderful.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Do you have any ACC's Mysterious Universe [aka Mysterious World] fans? He was quite the devotee of mysteries and the unexplained.

Of his last three wishes he wanted, evidence of ET, and a solution to the energy problem [an option to oil], as numbers one and two on his list. That's my man!

Thanks much for posting his farewell, what.

I bet that had he known what's going on in the field, he would be a huge fan of algae for fuel production. It's too bad that he didn't live long enough to see the field... bloom.

 

[DaveC426913]

And so passes the last of the "Big Three".

I was wondering about this last night: who his peers were. I had not known about "The Big Three".

Asimov was obvious, but the next one that came to mind for me was actually Bradbury rather than Heinlein, though he would have been fourth.

 

[binzing]

The name sounds soo familiar, what did he do? Other than write stories as Evo said.

 

[waht]

Of his last three wishes he wanted, evidence of ET, and a solution to the energy problem [an option to oil], as numbers one and two on his list. That's my man!

He also called for world peace, and referred that we are becoming a "global family" now, due to advancement in communications. However he alluded to the fact that we are still divided, and should shed the tribal mentality. That was his third wish. Then concluded with a poem, a writer's poem.

"If I have given you delight
By aught that I have done,
Let me lie quiet in that night
Which shall be yours anon:
And for that little, little span
The dead are borne in mind
Seek not to question other than
The books I leave behind."

 

[OmCheeto]

The name sounds soo familiar, what did he do? Other than write stories as Evo said.

He wrote a story that made me believe in god: Childhoods End.

It's a short story.

I recommend it to every human on the planet.

Godspeed professor Clark.

Sorry I didn't get my warp drive developed in time to take you on a trip to Mars and back.
I've day-dreamed about it over the last 40 years.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The name sounds soo familiar, what did he do? Other than write stories as Evo said.

Watch his farewell video and read the wiki page about him. Really he had a number of admirable careers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

 

[B. Elliott]

The last of the Golden Age of SF .

That's exactly what I was thinking. It's sad to see people that you basically grew up with. pass away. Clarke and Sagan were THE two writers that influenced my interest in science and technology.

Fallen heroes.

 

[Integral]

And so passes the last of the "Big Three".

For me this would mean Azimov, Heinlein, and Clark.

Rendezvous with Rama is my favorite Clark story.

 

[arildno]

Well, I rate Ray Bradbury higher than Heinlein, so for me, only two of the big three have passed away yet.

 

[DaveC426913]

That's exactly what I was thinking. It's sad to see people that you basically grew up with. pass away. Clarke and Sagan were THE two writers that influenced my interest in science and technology.

Fallen heroes.

They are not fallen. They have just moved on to more fertile hunting grounds.

 

[Darkiekurdo]

2001: A Space Odyssey for me was, and still is, his greatest achievement. But then again, I haven't really studied the man.

 

[JamesU]

That's too bad. IMO 2001 is one of the greatest of all-time.

 

[Evo]

Well, I rate Ray Bradbury higher than Heinlein, so for me, only two of the big three have passed away yet.

I loved Ray Bradbury, "A sound of thunder", "The Illustrated Man", "The Martian Chronicles". For me the top two were Bradbury and Asimov. Asimov's Dr Urth stories were what got me really hooked on science, Like "the Key". Also stories like "I'm in Marsport without Hilda", Marooned off Vesta", A Loint of Paw".

Here is one of my favorite Asimov stories, discussing tesseracts. It started my fascination with topography. http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/heinlein/heinlein1.html

You don't like Asimov Arildno?

 

[tribdog]

Are you sure that isn't a heinlein story Evo?
Heinlein was always my favorite of the three, until I read some of his final books. He turned into a real pervert.

 

[arildno]

I loved Ray Bradbury, "A sound of thunder", "The Illustrated Man", "The Martian Chronicles". For me the top two were Bradbury and Asimov. Asimov's Dr Urth stories were what got me really hooked on science, Like "the Key". Also stories like "I'm in Marsport without Hilda", Marooned off Vesta", A Loint of Paw".

Here is one of my favorite Asimov stories, discussing tesseracts. It started my fascination with topography. http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/heinlein/heinlein1.html

You don't like Asimov Arildno?

No, it was Heinlein I kicked out. To the "ignonimous" fourth place.
I like Asimov very well.
As I rate them, I'd say:
1. Arthur C. Clarke
2. Ray Bradbury
3. Isaac Asimov
4. R. Heinlein