Arthur C Clarke: 1917-2008

One of the finest writers of science fiction ever has passed away, at the age of 90. Den Of Geek salutes Arthur C Clarke

Den Of Geek

Den Of Geek is sad to learn this morning about the death of Arthur C Clarke. He passed away at the ripe age of 90 yesterday. He died in Sri Lanka, where he has lived for the past 50 years.

Arthur C Clarke was one of the world’s most famous and foremost science-fiction writers, who penned over 100 books (fiction and non-fiction) across his career. He shot to fame when one of his short stories, The Sentinel, was memorably turned by Stanley Kubrick into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

What stood Clarke aside from so many others was not only the quality, imagination and detail of his writing, but also how close to reality much of his work turned out to be. Widely acknowledged as the inventor of the communications satellite, Clarke was writing about computers, space travel and hi-tech communication long before it became the trend to do so, and was widely acclaimed for humanising the science-fiction genre.

Born in Somerset in 1917, Clarke also wrote for Dan Dare during his extensive career, and was one of the inspirations for Gene Roddenberry when he was creating Star Trek.

Clarke’s work is set to live on for decades upon decades to come, with his books proving as vital and interesting reading today as they were when they were written. But the world is missing one of its great minds today, and science fiction has lost one of its most influential and brilliant writers.

19/03/08