ARTHUR CHARLES CLARKE (1917-2008) - pseudonyms: Charles Willis, E.G.

O'Brien

UK writer, one of the grand masters of science fiction with Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein. Apart from his literary endeavours, however, Arthur C. Clarke is remembered as the inventor of communication satellite, an idea he first expounded in a 1945 article entitled 'Extraterrestial Relays.' Clarke's professional writing career spanned over five decades.
-"Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth. --Now this is an interesting number, for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe, the Milky Way. So for every man who has ever lived, in this universe, there shines a star." (from Clarke's foreword in 2001, A Space Odyssey, 1968)

Arthur C. Clarke was born at the coast town of Minehead, the eldest of four children. His father, Charles Wright Clarke, was a farmer; he died in 1931. Clarke's mother was a post office telegrapher. Left with her children, she gave riding lessons to augment the family income. Clarke became interested in science in early age. While at Huish's Grammar School, Clarke started to writes 'fantastic' stories which were published in school magazines and fan magazines. He was an avid reader of the magazine Astounding Stories, devoured works from such writers as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, and built transmitters and chrystal radio sets. His first telescope Clarke constructed at thirteen. On leaving school Clarke worked in the Exchequer and Adult Department in London. His job involved auditing teacher pensions. Clarke's apartment became the meeting place of the British Interplanetary Society, which he had joined when he was sixteen, and in 1949 he was appointed chairman of the BIS. From 1941 to 1946 Clarke served in the Royal Air Force, specializing in radar and eventually rising to the rank of flight-lieutenant. During the service Clarke sold his first science-fiction story to John W. Campbell, editor of Astounding Science Fiction. In 1945 he wrote a technical paper that was the forerunner of communication satellites. The essay war reprinted in ASCENT TO ORBIT, a collection of his technical writings, that he brought out after receiving the Marconi Award in 1982 for his contributions to communications technology. Clarke's non-science fiction novel, GLIDE PATH (1963) was based on a testing program for the first blind approach radar. After the war Clarke entered King's College, London, and took two years later his B.Sc. with honours in physics and mathematics in 1948. His first published novel, PRELUDE TO SPACE, was written in three weeks during the summer of 1947. From 1949 to 1951 he was an assistant editor of Physics Abstracts. Since 1952 Clarke worked as a full-time writer. In the 1950s Clarke became interested in undersea exploration. He settled in 1956 permanently in Sri Lanka, where he wrote several fiction and nonfiction books and articles about the Indian Ocean. With his friend Mike Wilson he filmed the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, from which his novel THE DEEP RANGE (1957) derives. Clarke also served as a director of Rocket Publishing, London, Underwater Safaris, Colombo, and Spaceward Corporation, New York. Fortunate to see his visions turn into reality, Clarke also appeared as commentator on CBS TV for the Apollo 11, 12 and 15 Moon missions. Due to a severe attack of polio in 1962, Clarke became completely paralyzed. As his farewell to the sea he wrote DOLPHIN ISLAND. After recovering Clarke started his cooperation with the director Stanley Kubrick. Later he accompanied his friend Mike Wilson on an underwater adventure six miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, which was depicted in THE TREASURE OF THE GREAT REEF (1964). However, Clarke still spent over six months out of his beloved

island because of tax laws. In 1975 the Indian government presented him with a satellite dish, with which he was able to receive programs broadcast from experimental satellite ATS6.
"The island of Ceylon is a small universe; it contains as many variations of culture, scenery, and climate as some countries a dozen times its size. What you get from it depends on what you bring; if you never stray from your hotel bar or the dusty streets of westernized Colombo, you could perish of fulminating boredom in a week, and it would serve you right. But if you are interested in people, history, nature, and art - the things that really matter - you may find, as I have, that a lifetime is not enough." (Clarke in The View from Serendip, 1977)

In the 1980s Clarke was a presenter of the television series Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (1980) and World of Strange Powers (1985). He lectured widely in Britain and in the United States. In 1980 he was Vikram Sarabhai Professor at Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. Until 1982 Clarke had written his books with a typewriter, but after the arrival of his first computer - 5 MB of memory - he used only his word processor. Clarke's best known works include the short story THE SENTINEL (1951), about man's contact with sentient life. In the spring of 1964, Clarke retired to Hotel Chelsea in New York and began to write a novel about a space travel. His illustrious acquaintances during this period included Arhur Miller, Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, and Norman Mailer. Clarke's story was the basis of the novel and film 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), for which Clarke wrote the script with Stanley Kubrick. The novel was based on the original screenplay. In 2001 a mysterious monolith is found buried beneath the surface of the moon. It send's a signal towards Jupiter. To solve the mystery astronauts are sent to Jupiter with the help of the "infallible" super-computer HAL 9000, voiced in the film by the Canadian actor Douglas Rain. With the amazing machine Clarke presents one of the basic philosophical questions: can there be intelligence without consciousness? After a series of accidents and HAL's operations, one of the astronauts, David Bowman, is left alone as the ship reaches the planet. There he embarks on the final step in humankind's next developmental stage and at the end, as a fetus, symbolizes the birth of the bermensch. "If anyone understands it on the first viewing, we've failed in our intention", Clarke said of the film. Clarke continued the Odyssey Saga in three sequels, 2010: ODYSSEY TWO (1982), 2061: ODYSSEY THREE (1988), and 3001: THE FINAL ODYSSEY (1996). CHILDHOOD'S END (1953) told about the beginning of the age of Humankind after Overlods have eliminated ignorance, disease and poverty. A FALL OF MOONDUST (1961) was a tale of marooned moon schooner, and in RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA (1973) a research team is sent to investigate a cylindrical object hurtling through the solar system. Although Clarke announced that THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE (1979) would be his last work of fiction, he continued his literary activity. With Gentry Lee, the chief engineer on Project Galileo, Clarke wrote CRADLE (1988), originally conceived as a movie project, and RAMA II (1989). Clarke's catastrophe novel THE HAMMER OF GOOD (1993) about an asteroid hurtling toward Earth, anticipated such films as Deep Impact (1998) and Armageddon (1998). Clarke's Venus Prime series was franchised to Paul Preuss. The Kubrick/Clarke vision from 1968 of computers and space programs at the turn of the century did not came true. In an interview Clarke acknowledged: "We science-fiction writers never attempt to predict. In fact, it's the exact opposite. As my friend Ray Bradbury said, 'We do this not to predict the future but to prevent it.'"(Newsweek, December 2000-February 2001, special
edition)

Clarke was fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and recipient of many awards for his science fiction. He was the guest of honour at the 1956 World Science Fiction Convention, when he won a Hugo for his story 'The Star'. Rendezvous with Rama won the Nebula and Hugo Awards, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Clarke also received the Franklin Gold

Medal, and in 1962 the UNESCO-Kalinga Prize for popularizing science. Clarke was made a knight in 1998. In 1954 he married Marilyn Mayfield whom he had met on a trip to Florida; they separated after a few months and divorced officially in 1964. For the last two decades of his life, Clarke suffered from post-polio syndrome. He died in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 19, 2008.
"Nevertheless, it is vital to remember that information - in the sense of raw data - is not knowledge; that knowledge is not wisdom; and that wisdom is not foresight. But information is the first essential step to all of these." (from 'Is There Life After Television' in Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!, 1999)

A central theme in Clarke's fiction was the "spiritual" rebirth and the search for man's place in the universe. In Rendezvous with Rama the discussions of a research team form an allegory for the great question of the meaning of life. 2001 traces the evolution of man and humanity's quest for existential answers, symbolized by the unearthly monolith. In the sequels technological progress allows to reveal some of the secrets behind the monolith. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", Clarke once said. The technological details of his books were flawless, and often Clarke guessed right new advances in science, but not always. In an article from 1999, 'The Twentieth-First Century: A (Very) Brief History,' he predicted that the last coal mine is closed in 2006, a city in a third world country is devastated in 2009 by the accidental explosion of an A-bomb in its armory, and in 2014 starts the construction of Hilton Orbiter Hotel.
For further reading: Arthur C. Clarke: A Critical Companion by Robin Anne Reid (1997); World Authors 19001950, ed. by M. Seymour-Smith and A.C. Kimmens (1996); Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography by Neil McAleer (1992); Clarke's Odysseys by Peter Stockill (1990); Arthur C. Clarke: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography by David N. Samuelson (1984); Against the Night, the Stars by J. Hollow (1983, rev. ed. 1987); Arthur C. Clarke by E.S. Rabkin (1979); The Space Odysseys of Arthur C. Clarke by G.E. Slusser (1978); Arthur C.Clarke, ed. by J.D. Olander and M.H. Greenberg (1977) - "Arthur and I share similar views on science fiction, on science, on social questions, and on politics. I have never had an occasion to disagree with him on any of these things, which is a credit to his clear-thinking intelligence." (Isaac Asimov in I. Asimov: A Memoir, 1994)

Selected works:
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Extraterrestrial Relays, Wireless World, 1945 INTERPLANETARY SPACE, 1950 THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE, 1951 PRELUDE TO SPACE, 1951 THE SANDS OF MARS, 1951 - Marsin aamunkoitto (suom. Anja Toivonen) ISLANDS IN THE SKY, 1952 - Ilmojen saaret (suom. Hugo L. Mkinen) CHILDHOOD' END, 1953 - Lapsuuden loppu (suom. Matti Kannosto) EXPEDITION TO EARTH, 1953 (includes the short story The Sentinel) THE EXPLORATION OF MOON, 1954 THE YOUNG TRAVELLER IN SPACE,1954 EARTHLIGHT, 1955 - Maan valo (suom. Eila Salminen) THE COAST OF CHORAL, 1956 THE CITY AND THE STARS, 1956 - Kadonnut menneisyys (suom. Anja Toivonen) THE DEEP RANGE, 1957 THE MAKING OF THE MOON, 1957 THE REEFS OF TABROBANE, 1957 TALES FROM THE WHITE HART, 1957 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SKY, 1958 BOY BENEATH THE SEA, 1958 VOICE ACROSS THE SEA, 1958 ACROSS THE SEA OF STARS, 1959

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THE CHALLENGE OF THE SEA, 1960 THE CHALLENGE OF THE SPACESHIP, 1960 THE FIRST FIVE FATHOMS, 1960 A FALL OF MOONDUST, 1961 - Selene I (suom. Matti Kannosto) FROM THE OCEANS, FROM THE STARS, 1962 REACH FOR TOMORROW, 1962 TALES FROM TEN WORLDS, 1962 INDIAN OCEAN ADVENTURE, 1962 PROFILES OF THE FUTURE, 1962 DOLPHIN ISLAND, 1963 GLIDE PATH, 1963 THE TREASURE OF THE GREAT REEF, 1964 MAN AND SPACE, 1964 - Ulos avaruuteen (suom. Pertti Jotuni) VOICES FROM THE SKY, 1965 PRELUDE TO MARS, 1965 THE NINE BILLION NAMES OF GOD, 1967 ed.: THE COMING OF THE AGE, 1967 ed.: TIME PROBE, 1967 ASECOND ARTHUR C. CLARKE OMNIBUS, 1968 THE PROMISE OF THE SKY, 1968 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, 1968 - 2001 avaruusseikkailu (suom. Sakari Ahlbck) film 1968, dir. by Stanley Kubrick

GLIDE PATH, 1969 THE LION OF COMARRE AND AGAINST THE FALL OF THE NIGHT, 1970 FIRST ON THE MOON, 1970 MEETING WITH MEDUSA, 1971 OF TIME AND STARS, 1972 - Thtiaika (suom. Matti Kannosto) THE WIND FROM THE SUN, 1972 - Tuuli auringosta (suom. Ilkka rel) BEYOND JUPITER, 1972 INDIAN OCEAN TREASURE, 1972 INTO SPACE, 1972 THE LOST WORLDS OF 2001, 1972 REPORT ON PLANET THREE, 1972 RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA, 1973 - Uhka avaruudesta (suom. Matti Kannosto) IMPERIAL EARTH: A FANTASY OF LOVE AND DISCORD, 1975 THE VIEW FROM SERENDIP, 1977 THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE, 1979 - Paratiisin suihkulhteet (suom. Matti Kannosto) ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S MYSTERIOUS WORLD, 1980 2010: ODYSSEY TWO, 1980 - 2010 Avaruusodysseia (suom. Matti Kannosto) - film
1984, dir. by Peter Hyams

ASCENT TO ORBIT: A SCIENTIFIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 1984 ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S WORLD OF STRANGE POWERS, 1985 (with Simon Welfare and John Fairley) ODYSSEY FILE, 1985 (with Peter Hyams) SELECTED WORKS, 1985 ed.: ARTHUS C. CLARKE'S JULY 20, 2019, 1986 THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH, 1986 - Kaukaisen maan laulut (suom. Matti Kannosto) 2061: ODYSSEY THREE, 1987 - Odysseia 2061 (suom. Matti Kannosto) ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S CHRONICLES OF THE STRANGE AND MYSTERIUS, 1987 CRADLE, 1988 (with Gentry Lee) - Kehto (suom. Matti Kannosto) RAMA II, 1989 (with Gentry Lee) - Rama II (suom. Pekka Markkula) TALES FROM THE PLANET EARTH, 1989

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ASTOUNDING DAYS: A SCIENCE FICTION AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 1989 THE GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS, 1990 PROJECT SOLAR SAIL, 1990 (ed.) THE GARDEN OF RAMA, 1991 (with Gentry Lee) THE GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS, 1991 THE FANTASTIC MUSE, 1992 HOW THE WORLD WAS ONE, 1992 BY SPACE POSSESSED, 1993 THE HAMMER OF GOD, 1993 RAMA REVEALED, 1993 ed.: First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells, 1993 ed.: War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, 1993 ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S A-Z OF MYSTERIES: FROM ATLANTIS TO ZOMBIES, 1994 (with Simon Welfare and John Fairley) - Tieteen kuvalehden suuri kirja (suom. Jarmo Hakanen, Jere Hakanen) 3001: THE FINAL ODYSSEY, 1996 GREETINGS, CARBON-BASED BIPEDS!, 1999 (ed. by Ian MacAuley) THE TRIGGER, 2000 (with Michael Kube-McDowell) TIME'E EYE, 2004 (with Stephen Baxter) SUNSTORM, 2005 (with Stephen Baxter)