Firstborn (Pocketbook)

Besides his visionary science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke has also had an astonishing influence on the scientific community. At 19, Clarke left home, moved to London, and began dabbling in science fiction. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and oversaw the first radar equipment used to assist in airplane landings. "Extraterrestrial Relays", his 1945 technical paper predicting the principles of geosynchronous satellite communications, was decades ahead of its time. His first science fiction saw print in 1946, while he was attending King's College. Graduating in 1948 with honors in physics and mathematics, he made his second major impact on the scientific community in 1954. His correspondence with Dr. Harry Wexler at the U.S. Weather Bureau led directly to the use of satellites as meteorological tools. Clarke's best-known work began in 1951 as a short story called "The Sentinel". After moving to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), he and director Stanley Kubrick began working on a script loosely based on "The Sentinel". While Kubrick wrote a screenplay version, Clarke worked on a novel, with elements from each informing the other. The film was eventually credited to them both; the novel, based on their screenplay, credited to Clarke. In 1968, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY was released. Critical reaction was mixed, but it won an Academy Award, was nominated for three others, including Best Screenplay, and subsequently became a huge success. Today 2001 is regularly cited as a seminal, influential film. In 1969, Clarke co-anchored the 1969 moon landing with Walter Cronkite, and returned to comment on the next two landings. Clarke won his third Hugo--the first was in 1956 for the story "The Star" and the second he shared with Kubrick--for the 1972 story "A Meeting with Medusa". He won a second Nebula for the novel RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA, which also received the British Science Fiction Award. THE FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE (1979), also won a Hugo and a Nebula. The sequel to 2001, 2010: ODYSSEY TWO (1985) became a movie directed by Peter Hyams. Clarke, in Sri Lanka, communicated with Hyams in L.A. via modem, in one of the world's first Internet collaborations. Clarke has written more than 40 novels and over 20 short story collections, somehow remaining at the forefront of scientific development and being instrumental in changing the way humans see the world. He was knighted on February 4, 1998. He died March 19, 2008, while still working on his novel THE LAST THEOREM