Late But Heartfelt

Thank you Arthur C. Clarke for lighting the heavens and my imagination with possibilities. Traveller, I wish you well on your next grand adventure...among the stars, surely.


Excerpt from an article about Mr. Clarke on Space.com (full article is here.)

As news of Arthur C. Clarke's death spread through communities of scientists, writers and science fiction fans, many people shared their memories of how the visionary writer, inventor and futurist inspired and influenced them.

Clarke is famous for his book, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (he also co-wrote the screenplay for the movie), for coming up with the idea for the communications satellite and for predicting space travel long before humans left Earth.

"I think the passing of Arthur C. Clarke is really epical," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "There is no one of his caliber or vision on the scene today ... Clarke's contribution was to motivate people to go after careers because they wanted to help shape a certain kind of future, to be at the beginning of something of millennial importance."

Stern said Clarke's legacy at NASA and in the space exploration community was particularly significant.

"For my generation, the children of Apollo, Clarke's writings were hugely and deeply inspirational," Stern told SPACE.com. "He was not just a technically competent writer of science fiction, science fact and futurism, but he was incredibly optimistic. I have had many emails in the last 18 hours, from friends of mine, from childhood, graduate school, >adulthood. It's amazing to me how many say the same thing: 'I wouldn't be in this line of work if it weren't for Arthur Clarke.' People across the world, especially the backbone of American aerospace exploration and space science, were inspired by Clarke's writings at one stage or another in their youth."

Clarke had a profound impact on technology and invention. His idea for the communications satellite has affected the whole planet.

"Arthur was not only a major figure in the first baby steps in humans' exploration of space, but a major figure in the building up of our planet as an interconnected organism," said writer Ann Druyan, widow of science popularizer Carl Sagan. "He was someone really significant."

Druyan said she met Clarke many times over the decades that he and Sagan were friends, as well as after Sagan's death.

"He was not only a great technical mind, but of course he had a powerful imagination, which influenced every one of us," Druyan said. "If we use anything based on a communications satellite then we definitely owe Arthur a huge debt. In my mind, '2001' remains the greatest sci-fi movie ever made. In many ways today it seems more futuristic than movies made 30 years later."

Many people have wondered how Clarke was able to predict so many elements of the future before they unfolded in reality.

"I think it was partially because his mother was a radio telephone operator," Druyan said. "So here he is as a young person growing up in the early part of the 20th century, at a moment where electronic communication was in its fledgling earliest stages, and he is a guy who has an exceptional imagination. So it was the perfect recipe for a child with Arthur's talents to go in that direction. The modesty of his background is yet another reason why it's so important to educate everybody, because you never know where the next Arthur C. Clarke or Carl Sagan could be."

Druyan said her friend will be remembered long after his death.

"Arthur had a great life," she said. "I don't really feel sadness because I think he had a full measure of life and he used it to the utmost. We are better for [his life]."