ARTHUR CLARKE (1947-74)

Writer, some of whose science-fiction concepts have had remarkable parallels, particularly in the development of satellite communications.

Interested in science from childhood, Clarke mapped the Moon with the aid of a telescope of his own construction.

In 1930 he first became interested in science-fiction by reading copies of a magazine that had been shipped across the Atlantic as ballast and sold in Woolworth stores.

Lacking money for college, Clarke worked as auditor in a government bureau, a job that allowed him leisure to pursue his developing interest in space; he joined a small advanced group that called itself the British Interplanetary Society.

In 1941 Clarke enlisted in the Royal Air Force and became a radar instructor. While in the service he published his own first science-fiction stories and in 1945 wrote for Wireless World an article entitled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays", predicting in detail a satellite system that would relay radio and television signals all over the world. He described three satellites, each hovering in stationary orbit 22,000 miles (35,200 kilometres) from the Earth, on a plane parallel to the Equator. The reaction of even specialized readers was skeptical. Within a few years, however, such a satellite was proposed to the U.S. National Aeronautics ans Space Administration. The project came to fruition in the Early Bird synchronous satellites, the first of which was launched in April 1965.

Clarke meanwhile had become a distinguished science-fiction writer, known especially for such novels as Earthlight (1955), A Fall of Moondust (1961) and The Fountains of Paradise (1979). Collections of essays and lectures include Voices from the Sky (1965) and The View from Serendip (1977).

In the 1950s Clarke developed an interest in undersea exploration. Making his home in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), he embarked on a second career combining skin diving and photography; he reported his various underwater ventures in a succession of books beginning with The Coast of Coral (1956).

In the 1960s he collaborated with motion-picture director Stanley Kubric in making the innovative science-fiction film "2001: A Space Odyssey", based on Clarke´s short story The Sentinel.

Among his many honours are the Franklin Institute´s Gold Medal for originating the idea of satellite communication and the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for science writing.