Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke “Arthur Clarke” redirects here. For other uses, see 1.1 Early years Arthur Clarke (disambiguation). Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England, and Sri Lankabhimanya Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, grew up in nearby Bishops Lydeard. As a boy, he FRAS (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was grew up on a farm enjoying stargazing and reading old a British science fiction writer, science writer and American science fiction pulp magazines. He received futurist,[3] inventor, undersea explorer, and television se- his secondary education at Huish Grammar school in ries host. Taunton. In his teens, he joined the Junior Astronomi- cal Association and contributed to Urania, the society’s He is perhaps most famous for being co-writer of the journal, which was edited in Glasgow by Marion Eadie. screenplay for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, widely At Clarke’s request, she added an Astronautics Section, considered to be one of the most influential films of all which featured a series of articles by him on spacecraft [4][5] time. His other science fiction writings earned him and space travel. Clarke also contributed pieces to the a number of Hugo and Nebula awards, which along with Debates and Discussions Corner, a counterblast to a Ura- a large readership made him one of the towering figures nia article offering the case against space travel, and also of science fiction. For many years Clarke, Robert Hein- his recollections of the Walt Disney film Fantasia. He lein and Isaac Asimov were known as the “Big Three” of moved to London in 1936 and joined the Board of Edu- [6] science fiction. cation as a pensions auditor.[17] Clarke was a lifelong proponent of space travel. In 1934, while still a teenager, he joined the British Interplanetary Society. In 1945, he proposed a satellite communication 1.2 World War II system,[7] an idea which won him the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal[8] in 1963, and other honours.[9] During World War II from 1941 to 1946 he served in Later he was the chairman of the British Interplanetary the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist and was in- Society from 1946–47 and again in 1951–53.[10] volved in the early-warning radar defence system, which Clarke was a science writer, who was both an avid pop- contributed to the RAF’s success during the Battle of ulariser of space travel and a futurist of uncanny ability. Britain. Clarke spent most of his wartime service work- On these subjects he wrote over a dozen books and many ing on ground-controlled approach (GCA) radar, as docu- essays, which appeared in various popular magazines. In mented in the semi-autobiographical Glide Path, his only 1961 he was awarded the Kalinga Prize, an award which non-science-fiction novel. Although GCA did not see is given by UNESCO for popularizing science. These much practical use during the war, it proved vital to the along with his science fiction writings eventually earned Berlin Airlift of 1948–1949 after several years of devel- him the moniker “Prophet of the Space Age”.[11] opment. Clarke initially served in the ranks, and was a corporal instructor on radar at No. 2 Radio School, RAF Clarke immigrated to Sri Lanka in 1956, largely to pursue Yatesbury in Wiltshire. He was commissioned as a pilot [12] his interest in scuba diving. That year he discovered officer (technical branch) on 27 May 1943.[18] He was the underwater ruins of the ancient Koneswaram temple promoted flying officer on 27 November 1943.[19] He in Trincomalee. was appointed chief training instructor at RAF Honiley Clarke augmented his fame later on in the 1980s, from in Warwickshire and was demobilised with the rank of being the host of several television shows such as Arthur flight lieutenant. C. Clarke’s Mysterious World. He lived in Sri Lanka until his death.[13] He was knighted in 1998[14][15] and was awarded Sri Lanka’s highest civil 1.3 Postwar honour, Sri Lankabhimanya, in 2005.[16] After the war he attained a first-class degree in mathe- matics and physics from King’s College London.[20] Af- ter this he worked as assistant editor at Physics Abstracts. Clarke then served as chairman of the British Interplane- 1 Biography tary Society from 1946 to 1947[21] and again from 1951 to 1953.[22] 1 2 1 BIOGRAPHY Although he was not the originator of the concept of in Taunton, Somerset, England, and referred to as the geostationary satellites, one of his most important con- “Clarkives”. Clarke said that some of his private diaries tributions in this field may be his idea that they would be will not be published until 30 years after his death. When ideal telecommunications relays. He advanced this idea asked why they were sealed, he answered, “Well, there in a paper privately circulated among the core technical might be all sorts of embarrassing things in them.”[3] members of the British Interplanetary Society in 1945. The concept was published in Wireless World in Octo- ber of that year.[23][24][25] Clarke also wrote a number of 1.4 Sri Lanka non-fiction books describing the technical details and so- cietal implications of rocketry and space flight. The most Clarke lived in Sri Lanka from 1956 until his death in notable of these may be Interplanetary Flight (1950), 2008, having immigrated there when it was still called The Exploration of Space (1951) and The Promise of Ceylon, first in Unawatuna on the south coast, and then in [32] Space (1968). In recognition of these contributions, the Colombo. The Sri Lankan government offered Clarke [36] geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometres (22,000 mi) above resident guest status in 1975; he was so influential that the equator is officially recognised by the International the Sri Lanka Air Force provided a helicopter to take a [37] Astronomical Union as a Clarke Orbit.[26] visiting Robert Heinlein around the country. On 20 July 1969 Clarke appeared as a commentator for CBS for the Apollo 11 moon landing.[27][28] 1.3.1 Sexuality On a trip to Florida in 1953[1] Clarke met and quickly married Marilyn Mayfield, a 22-year-old American di- vorcee with a young son. They separated permanently after six months, although the divorce was not finalised until 1964.[29] “The marriage was incompatible from the beginning”, said Clarke.[29] Clarke never remarried, but 1974 ABC interview with Clarke in which he describes a future was close to a Sri Lankan man, Leslie Ekanayake, whom of ubiquitous, internet-enabled, personal computers. Clarke called his “only perfect friend of a lifetime”, in [30] the dedication to his novel The Fountains of Paradise. In the early 1970s Clarke signed a three-book publish- Clarke is buried with Ekanayake, who predeceased him ing deal, a record for a science-fiction writer at the time. by three decades, in Colombo's central cemetery. In his The first of the three was Rendezvous with Rama in 1973, biography of Stanley Kubrick, John Baxter cites Clarke’s which won all the main genre awards[38] and spawned se- homosexuality as a reason why he relocated, due to quels that along with the 2001 series formed the backbone more tolerant laws with regard to homosexuality in Sri of his later career. Lanka.[31] Journalists who enquired of Clarke whether he was gay were told, “No, merely mildly cheerful.”[32] How- In a 1974 taped interview with the Australian Broadcast- ever, Michael Moorcock has written: ing Corporation, the interviewer asked Clarke how he be- lieved the computer would change the future for the ev- Everyone knew he was gay. In the 1950s eryday person, and what life would be like around the I'd go out drinking with his boyfriend. We year 2001. Clarke accurately predicted many things that met his protégés, western and eastern, and their became reality, including online banking, online shop- families, people who had only the most gener- ping, and other now commonplace things. Responding ous praise for his kindness. Self-absorbed he to a question about how the interviewer’s son’s life would might be and a teetotaller, but an impeccable be different, Clarke responded: “He will have, in his own gent through and through.”[33] house, not a computer as big as this, [points to nearby computer], but at least, a console through which he can In an interview in the July 1986 issue of Playboy mag- talk, through his local computer and get all the informa- azine, when asked if he had had a bisexual experience, tion he needs, for his everyday life, like his bank state- Clarke stated “Of course. Who hasn't?"[34] In his obitu- ments, his theatre reservations, all the information you ary, Clarke’s friend Kerry O'Quinn wrote: “Yes, Arthur need in the course of living in our complex modern so- was gay ... As Isaac Asimov once told me, 'I think he sim- ciety, this will be in a compact form in his own house ... and he will take it as much for granted as we take the ply found he preferred men.' Arthur didn't publicize his [39] sexuality—that wasn't the focus of his life—but if asked, telephone.” he was open and honest.”[35] In 1986 Clarke was named a Grand Master by the Science [40] Clarke maintained a vast collection of manuscripts and Fiction Writers of America. personal memoirs, maintained by his brother Fred Clarke In 1988 he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, hav- 3 ing originally contracted polio in 1962, and needed to use address for the Robert A.

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