Arthur C Carke the legendary fiction writer has died. He was 90
Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. local time after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.
Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in 1956, lured by his interest in marine diving — which he said was as close as he could get to the weightless feeling of space. “I’m perfectly operational underwater,” he once said.
Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.
Clarke's best-known novel, "2001: A Space Odyssey," became the basis of the 1968 film of the same name, directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film and the book elevated the plot's mentally unbalanced computer, HAL 9000, into the pantheon of great fictional characters.
Three "2001" book sequels followed, and one of them — "2010" — was made into a movie as well.
In addition to the "2001" series, Clarke's best-known works included "Childhood's End" and "Rendezvous With Rama." The latter novel is reportedly being adapted for film, with actor Morgan Freeman as producer and star.
Clarke was regarded as a technological seer as well as a science-fiction writer. He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.
Another novel of his, titled "The Fountains of Paradise," sparked the real-world efforts to build a space elevator from Earth to orbit. He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.
Clarke was born in the English coastal town of Minehead where he went to Huish Grammar school, but Sri Lanka was his adopted home.
On the occasion of his 90th birthday last December, one of Clarke's three wishes was to see lasting peace in the island nation, which has been divided by ethnic conflict.
Clarke also wished that the world would embrace cleaner energy resources — and that extraterrestrial beings would "call us or give us a sign."
"We have no way of guessing when this might happen," Clarke said in his birthday speech. "I hope sooner rather than later."
Report taken from AP and a little bit of info from the BBC
Updates coming through
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