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person1917–2008

Arthur C. Clarke

Disciplines:
britain
science fiction
technology
writing

Summary

British science fiction author — author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, and Rendezvous with Rama — who proposed the geostationary satellite concept — one of the Big Three of science fiction (with Asimov and Heinlein).

Core Contribution

Creates the geostationary satellite concept and philosophically ambitious hard SF — Clarke's 1945 paper proposing the geostationary orbit for communications satellites is the most practically consequential science fiction idea in history (the technology was implemented by others but is universally known as Clarke orbit); 2001 is the most philosophically ambitious hard SF novel.

Notable Works & Achievements

Childhood's End

The City and the Stars

2001: A Space Odyssey

Rendezvous with Rama

The Fountains of Paradise

Historical Influences

H.G. Wells Olaf Stapledon Isaac Asimov

Intellectual Lineage

Minehead, SomersetRAF King's College London Sri Lanka 'Extra-Terrestrial Relays'2001

Contemporaries & Peers

Isaac Asimov Robert Heinlein Kubrick

Minds Influenced

Hard science fiction Satellite communications

Intellectual Posterity

Clarke orbit2001: A Space Odyssey HAL 9000 Clarke's three lawsChildhood's End

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