Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

[Mhurron]

Author Arthur C. Clarke dies - CNN.com

"(CNN) -- Author Arthur C. Clarke, whose science fiction and non-fiction works ranged from the script for "2001: A Space Odyssey" to an early proposal for communications satellites, has died at age 90, associates have said."

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

Wow. No one responded for hours. ._.

/salute Mr. Clarke

Thank you for sharing your vision.

[Murphie]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

I talked about it this morning at school and on another forum I frequent. Otherwise I would have been all over this topic.

[Malacite]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

I saw this last night but am sad to say I know nothing of this man suffice to say that he was clearly some great writer and deserves respect, else why the big report on him.

[Mhurron]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

I know nothing of this man

Arthur C. Clarke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Jarre]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

I am an avid fan of science fiction and the first book series, which is still my favourite was teh Rama series by Arthur C Clarke, since then I have bought alot of his back catelogue from the famouse Sentinal (2001 a space odesey and the 3 books after in the series) to his Mysterious worlds series he did.

Arthur C Clarke predicted supercomputers, global information services (which of course we now know as the internet), satelites, handheld mobile communicators (mobile phones) portable computers (laptops) etc etc. He was a great scientist as well and all his predictions he made in teh late 40's and early 50's especially the "Man will walk on the moon by 2000" was ridicalled and dismissed. he prooved them wrong.

He lived to a good age of 90 in Sri Lanka where last night his heart failed.

RIP Arthur C Clarke, I will continue to enjoy your books for the rest of my life.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

He was a great scientist as well and all his predictions he made in teh late 40's and early 50's especially the "Man will walk on the moon by 2000" was ridicalled and dismissed. he prooved them wrong.

Clarke was not a scientist, I think. ^_^; Can call him a 'futurist', though.

[Mhurron]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

Clarke was not a scientist, I think. ^_^; Can call him a 'futurist', though.

Actually, he was. He worked on RADAR systems for the RAF in WW2, which is where he got the idea for using geostationary satellites as a communications medium. He held a degree in Mathematics and Physics.

A futurist is just another name for a bad, often unsuccessful, science fiction writer.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

He was radar operator, wasn't he? I don't recall reading he was an engineer or researcher, so didn't think he qualified as "scientist". (Not that engineers should be confused with scientists, but the general public won't get the difference anyway.)

The degrees came after his tour of duty, IIRC. (And, having a degree in science still does not make one a scientist.)

[Jarre]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

An extract from his biog...

During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist and was involved in the early warning radar defence system, which contributed to the RAF's success during the Battle of Britain. Clarke's non-SF novel Glide Path is based on his wartime experiences. Clarke spent most of his service time working on Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) radar as documented in his semi-autobiographical novel Glide Path. Although GCA did not see much practical use in the war, after several years of development it was vital to the Berlin Airlift of 1948–1949. He initially served in the ranks, and was a Corporal when he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer (Technical Branch) on 27 May 1943.[4] He was promoted Flying Officer on 27 November 1943[5] He was demobilised with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. After the war he earned a first-class degree in mathematics and physics at King's College London.

He wasn't an operator, he was an engineer and helped develop the systems.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

Interesting. I read "radar specialist" as "radar operator". Kinda like a "logistics specialist" wouldn't be an (IE)OR engineer, normally. Guess that's not what it means. XD

[Mhurron]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

I think that often now the term 'Radar Specialist' would mean operator, but during the advent of the technology, it required significantly more. That was hinted at when you take into account that what he did as a 'Radar Specialist' is what lead him to postulate the possibilities of geostationary communications satellites in papers that involved scientists and engineers in several fields from the UK and the US.

In short, it took a lot to develop and implement RADAR systems, even the 'lowest' member working with them needed to know more then your average conscript.

I do take issue with saying he predicted supercomputers though. He would have eventually heard about the work at Bletchly Park which could be argued was the forerunner of the supercomputer specifically (as well as practical computers in general) as well as the fact that the Germans had something similar to the Colossus in the works. I don't see how you can predict something that is already being worked on.

[Jarre]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

One of his early works of science fiction 9now part of his short story collection) talked about a computer 2m x 4m which could control a whole city, which he termed a super computer. This eventually manifested into HAL in his book "the sentinal"

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Arthur C Clark - Dead at 90

Anthropomorphic computers as characters in stories don't have much to do with supercomputing.