If all Sir Arthur C. Clarke had ever done was to say, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” it would have been enough. But, of course, there was much more.
Sir Arthur died today in Sri Lanka, where he had lived for many years. He was there for the amazing scuba diving and because a blind eye was turned toward his distastefully deviant lifestyle.
Clarke was well known for his science fiction writing, especially 2001:A Space Odyssey.
He was different than most other scifi writers. His work was fiction because it hadn’t happened yet, not because it wasn’t going to happen.
He, after all, was the person who postulated a satellite could be launched into geosynchronous orbit (also known as a Clarke Orbit), in essence, hovering over one spot continuously. That theory is the fact behind weather and TV satellites. Clarke understood its practicality long before the first geosync launch, 45 years ago.
Still to come, Clarke’s space elevator. Though it wasn’t his original theory, he did introduce it to a significantly wider audience through his writing. It’s more fiction destined to be fact.