Arthur C. Clarke dead at 90

No details yet, but an aide has reported that Arthur C. Clarke, luminous fiction author and progenitor of geosynchronous communication satellites (among other novel notions), has passed away in Sri Lanka at 90.

Link

[#1 posted by Joel Johnson , March 18, 2008 3:11 PM]

And yes, I did mean luminous, not luminary! He glowed, and does.

[#2 posted by padster123 , March 18, 2008 3:12 PM]

Oh no!

Rest in peace, voyager! You've always been an inspiration.

[#3 posted by Takuan , March 18, 2008 3:13 PM]

Thank you for everything, Mr. Clarke, Rest In Peace

[#4 posted by Jeff , March 18, 2008 3:14 PM]

May he have a glorious experience as he travels to the world beyond, something like the star-gate scene from 2001. All hail Hal's daddy!

[#5 posted by Cpt. Tim , March 18, 2008 3:14 PM]

songs of distant earth was one of my favorite books as a kid.

rip

[#6 posted by Takuan , March 18, 2008 3:15 PM]

Thank you for everything, Mr. Clarke, Rest In Peace

[#7 posted by padster123 , March 18, 2008 3:18 PM]

wikipedia is all over it:

----
In December 2007, the occasion of his 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video message to his friends and fans, bidding them "good-bye".

Clarke died on the morning of March 19, 2008, after suffering from breathing problems, according to Rohan de Silva, one of his aides.
----

It's strange to see that, from my point of view, he is going to die "tomorrow". Clarke would've liked that, I think.

[#8 posted by mesrop , March 18, 2008 3:19 PM]

Wow... this bummed me out. He has been such an influential figure in my (24 years) of life, its sad to see some one thats spanned generations go. He taught me two things in life. "Religion is a brain virus" and "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
I almost thought he would live forever.

[#9 posted by musicman , March 18, 2008 3:21 PM]

Joel trumps Cory to the news. Will we see inter staff rivalries erupt?

Vale ACC.

[#10 posted by indiie , March 18, 2008 3:22 PM]

Oh, what sad news! I am currently reading his collected essays from 1934-1998 "Greetings, Carbon Based Bipeds!", and they are just amazing. Rest in Peace, Mr. Clarke...your light will glow here forever.

[#11 posted by artistVictoriaC , March 18, 2008 3:24 PM]

This actually made me cry.

[#12 posted by Joel Johnson , March 18, 2008 3:24 PM]

Ha. That's because I'm sitting in bed nursing a fever trying to muster a single sentence to post while Cory's probably writing another whole novel. I'm coming for you, Doctorow! Only 99,967 words to go!

But first, another nap.

[#13 posted by padster123 , March 18, 2008 3:32 PM]

I'm off to bed to read a Clarke short story or two, from one of my lovely dusty old 1950's and '60's paperbacks. Maybe "The Star" or "If I forget thee, oh Earth". Or "The Sentinel" or "The Nine Billion Names of God". What an imagination, what a great mind.

Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke: all gone. Only Ray Bradbury left!

[#14 posted by arkizzle , March 18, 2008 3:34 PM]

Indiie, it's a great collection, huh? :)

Really though, what a sad day indeed.

“Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.”
- ACC

R.I.P

[#15 posted by Chris Spurgeon , March 18, 2008 3:36 PM]

Sadness mixed with admiration for a life truly well lived.

[#16 posted by Gary61 , March 18, 2008 3:38 PM]

One of my first books was 'Islands In The Sky', a juvenile sci-fi by Mr. Clarke .... he's the one that started me, and I also collected Mr. Heinlein and Dr. Asimov along the way .. but it was Clarke that opened up the whole world of speculative fiction to me, for which I am not only forever grateful, but it has also steered my life, and my family's lives, in perhaps different directions than we might have gone ...

Fare Thee Well in your travels, Sir Arthur, and know that you have touched the lives and minds of millions of people around our tiny little world.

[#17 posted by Xopher , March 18, 2008 3:47 PM]

An amazing person, an excellent writer, and an important figure in the development of technology we now take for granted. He will be sorely missed.

[#18 posted by doublethink , March 18, 2008 3:48 PM]

Loved all of his books. I hold him responsible for my entire interest in Science Fiction.

[#19 posted by alisong76 , March 18, 2008 3:53 PM]

Scary, I had just added 2001 to my reading pile - figureed it was time to crack it open again. RIP, ACC.

[#20 posted by ktsmurf , March 18, 2008 3:57 PM]

As soon as I saw this sad bit of news, I came over to boingboing to commiserate because I knew this group of people would be just as heartbroken as I over his passing.

Like so many others, from a young age I was greatly inspired by his writings. This is truly the end of an era, and the world seems a little bit dimmer for the loss.

You will be missed, sir.

[#21 posted by consideredopinion , March 18, 2008 3:59 PM]

This makes me really sad. It's just hard to get past such a uniquely creative person like Clarke.

[#22 posted by technogeek , March 18, 2008 4:00 PM]

He will indeed be missed. For his social insight as well as his techical insight.

(Everyone remembers that he correctly predicted the geosynchronous communications satellite. Fewer remember that he also correctly predicted one of the "killer applications" for this, and for every new communications technology since then: pornography.)

[#23 posted by dacker , March 18, 2008 4:07 PM]

He has been one of my most favorite authors since I was just a 12 year-old lad. I think that I have seen "2001" more than any other movie.

Depending on his final wishes, of course, NASA should put some of his ashes on a geosynchronous satellite....

[#24 posted by Orlando Insane , March 18, 2008 4:08 PM]

Sir Arthur C Clarke: 90th Birthday Reflections:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3qLdeEjdbWE

[#25 posted by Stefan Jones , March 18, 2008 4:10 PM]

Let's start a collection to compress his ashes into a adamantine monolith and bury it in Tycho crater.

[#26 posted by Chris Spurgeon , March 18, 2008 4:14 PM]

Depending on his final wishes, of course, NASA should put some of his ashes on a geosynchronous satellite....

...or toss 'em into the opening in the side of that monolith orbiting Europa.

[#27 posted by arkizzle , March 18, 2008 4:18 PM]

#25 Stefan

Monolith FTW!

[#28 posted by paulm , March 18, 2008 4:36 PM]

Was in Germany in the 80s. Read about geo-orbiter. Wrote a song about it, sent to him in Sri. Must have been a slow day for him. He sent me back a nice letter. El Hombre.

[#29 posted by agoodsandwich , March 18, 2008 4:39 PM]

*salute*

[#30 posted by Dillo , March 18, 2008 4:49 PM]

Really, really one of my favorite authors, particularly when I was growing up. Others had Heinlein, I had Clarke and Asimov. Reading "The Sentinel" in a hardbound collection of SF stories my grandmother picked up at a garage sale and gave to me was an incredible thrill for my 10-year-old self and then watching "2001" was a practically religious experience. I didn't care that hardly anything "happened" for almost 1.5 hours into the movie, the spaceships were enough for my brain to surf on for weeks afterwards.

It's hard to say what my "favorite" work of his is, but certainly the most re-read and pageworn ones I have are a first edition hardback of "2001" and "2010" and a paperback copy of "Songs of Distant Earth".

Here's to you Sir!
Thanks for the adventures and memories. You really fired the imagination and dreams of this geek.

[#31 posted by sparkzilla , March 18, 2008 4:58 PM]

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting/interviewing Arthur Clarke in Sri Lanka. When asked who Arthur C clarke was he said "an extrapolator".

He told me this story which he said may or may not be true...

During the Apollo astronaut training, they had to be trained in survival tactics in case they came down in an out of the way part of the world. And one of the places they were trained was in America, in the Navaho territory. The Navahos saw this training, these strange men in spacesuits and they said "What's this?" and NASA said "they're going to the moon". The Navaho were delighted and said, "Well that's where our ancestors come from, would the astronauts take a message from us?" So NASA gave them a tape recorder and they recorded a brief message. Now Navaho is a very difficult language, only spoken by a few thousand people, and the Navaho didn't say what the message was. And every time NASA played the message to anyone who knew Navaho, they burst out laughing, but they wouldn't translate it.

But eventually they found a defector who would do the deed. It was a very short message -- "Don't let these bastards steal your land!"

Also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NEh8nspzXw

[#32 posted by Tom P , March 18, 2008 5:14 PM]

Any sufficiently advanced eulogy will be indistinguishable from tragic.

[#33 posted by Pseudothink , March 18, 2008 5:14 PM]

I just recently bought the Rama series for my girlfriend, she's finishing up the last one ("Rama Revealed") at the moment. Clarke's writings helped inspire me, not just in his writing and creativity, but also helped me grow beyond my Catholic upbringing and find happiness in agnonsticism/atheism. Thank you Mr. Clarke, sincerely.

[#34 posted by Jake0748 , March 18, 2008 5:20 PM]

Nothing original to add here... just wanted to express my sadness over the loss of Sir Arthur. I grew up on his writings.

[#35 posted by pffft , March 18, 2008 5:21 PM]

Clark was one of the true masters of science fiction.

What I really admired and respected about him is his amazing insight into and understanding of human nature.

When it comes down to it, any imagining of the future of our race requires a deep understanding of our spirit and nature as a race.

Clarke had that understanding and that's why his works were so amazingly prescient and believable and inspiring and...

[#36 posted by DreadLetterDay , March 18, 2008 5:22 PM]

It's sad that the childhood for the majority of our species seems to be regressing, rather than ending.

There should be a planetary or lunar base named in his honour, but NOT on Europa.

Can I has rocketship yet plzthx?

[#37 posted by elfajio , March 18, 2008 5:33 PM]

Childhoods End was a personal favourite. Salute

[#38 posted by t.a. adjuster , March 18, 2008 5:45 PM]

Sad news. Thanks, Mr. Clarke, for your stories and your vision.

[#39 posted by VagabondAstronomer , March 18, 2008 5:54 PM]

Not just his science fiction inspired me but his non-fiction as well. As a tireless advocate of pushing human frontiers, he was without peer for many years.
Ad Astra, Sir Arthur.

[#40 posted by EvilTerran , March 18, 2008 6:12 PM]

Damn. Dougie Adams, RA Wilson, and now ACC. All my favourite authors keep dying. :(

[#41 posted by wingbatwu , March 18, 2008 6:17 PM]

Arthur C Clarke had aides?

[#42 posted by arkizzle , March 18, 2008 6:29 PM]

..you bastards?

[#43 posted by Tom , March 18, 2008 6:38 PM]

Clarke's work got me into SF at the age of 12 or 13. He was an explorer of ideas able to share what he'd found with the rest of us. While saddened by his death, I'm glad he lived a long and productive life, and died peacefully.

[#44 posted by Takuan , March 18, 2008 6:53 PM]

What legacy do we owe him?

[#45 posted by Wirelizard , March 18, 2008 6:59 PM]

It's strange to see that, from my point of view, he is going to die "tomorrow". Clarke would've liked that, I think.

Excellent point - it's still the 18th here, too. ACC really did live in the future!

That's the trinity down, isn't it? RAH, Asimov, ACC...

[#46 posted by bloodyfork , March 18, 2008 6:59 PM]

RIP ACC

[#47 posted by License Farm , March 18, 2008 7:01 PM]

I keep wondering whether it's sadness, pity or envy I feel for the great people we keep losing at this point in history. Either their last memories of this life are an unfortunate world before it can get better, or they're getting out while the getting is good. In the case of Sir Arthur, as he generally had a better idea of what was going on than most, I'm inclined to believe he onto something.

Look for the starbaby in the sky tonight.

[#48 posted by etho , March 18, 2008 8:22 PM]

Well, it's sad that the world has lost him, but he had a long life and left behind a large body of work. He will certainly be remembered fondly.

[#49 posted by Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey , March 18, 2008 8:26 PM]

At #32, Tom P: brilliant.

At #44, Takuan asks:

What legacy do we owe him?

Same as Heinlein, same as Asimov:

"Pay it forward."

[#50 posted by Bevatron Repairman , March 18, 2008 8:40 PM]

...without any fuss, the stars were going out.

Thanks, Sir Arthur, for everything.

[#51 posted by Agent 86 , March 18, 2008 8:45 PM]

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid."

[#52 posted by bwcbwc , March 18, 2008 9:47 PM]

This is a loss for all of us.

It made me wonder: Was he the last of the old-school SF writers of the Campbell era (1930's-50's), or is there still a survivor out there that I'm forgetting? Christopher Anvil wrote for Campbell in the 1950's, but he had barely gotten started. Brian Aldiss started about the same time, but he wasn't really a traditional hard-SF writer.

Time to hit wikipedia...

[#53 posted by jemanjam , March 18, 2008 9:59 PM]

BBC's got a good obituary. They would, he's one of thiers.... even though i remember the British media trying to scrape dirt up on this more than incredible human being for living in Sri Lanka all his life as well.
He came up with the fictional country U.S.S.A, never said it, but I always knew he meant the United States of South Asia.

This man dreamt in ways we don't even begin to allow our imagination to move.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2358011.stm

[#54 posted by Cory Doctorow , March 18, 2008 10:08 PM]

Just got this:

Dear friends,

With great sadness I would like to announce that, Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 boo ks on space, science and the future, die d Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. 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. after suffering breathing problems.

I had the privilege of visiting him a week ago at the hospital with Michael Snowden.

My thoughts go out to everyone here that has been inspired by his
works as much as I have.

Please check the official media statement at http://thilinaheenatigala.blogspot.com

Thilina Heenatigala
General Secretary
Sri Lanka Astronomical Association

(Please forward the message around)

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Thilina Heenatigala
http://thilinaheenatigala.blogspot.com
http://thilinaheenatigala-astronomy.blogspot.com

General Secretary
Sri Lanka Astronomical Association
http://aalk.lakdiva.net

Observing Coordinator
Astronomy & Space Study Center

Instructor
Royal College Astronomical Society

Founder & Moderator
Sir Arthur Clarke Birthday wishes blog
http://sirarthurcclarke90.blogspot.com

[#55 posted by Takuan , March 18, 2008 10:48 PM]

O man, take care!
What does the deep midnight declare?
"I was asleep—
From a deep dream I woke and swear:—
The world is deep,
Deeper than day had been aware.
Deep is its woe—
Joy—deeper yet than agony:
Woe implores: Go!
But all joy wants eternity—
Wants deep, wants deep eternity."

[#56 posted by raisedbywolves , March 19, 2008 12:14 AM]

RIP.

[#57 posted by planettom , March 19, 2008 12:58 AM]

At one DragonCon in Atlanta I was at (maybe mid-1990s), Arthur C. Clarke connected via very early (and jerky) teleconferencing from Sri Lanka. Ben Bova hosted on the Atlanta end. When the teleconference connected, Clarke had placed some sort of tribal mask from his wall in front of the camera. "TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADERS" the mask intoned in a sepulcher voice. He may have hummed "Thus Spake Zarathustrathe" (2001 theme). "HELLO, THIS IS ARTHUR CLARKE." Then he laughed and took away the mask. I got to ask Clarke a few questions.

Shortly before this, he'd gone scuba diving for the first time in many years. By this time he was pretty much wheelchair-bound with polio aftereffects, but he managed to scuba dive with a bit of assistance. They showed a video of it.

[#58 posted by IWood , March 19, 2008 2:27 AM]

I've read a bunch of his stuff, of course...but for some reason, "A Fall of Moondust" always stuck with me.

A moonbus (as seen, later, in 2001) sinks into lunar dust at the bottom of a crater. People are trapped on board. They have to figure out how to escape. Done. Just a simple tale, girded with accurate science plus a healthy dose of speculation. But I can still remember specific moments in the story, as though I'd seen it in a movie.

Only Bradbury's left, now. Fortunately, I got to meet him last year...

[#59 posted by Kieran O'Neill , March 19, 2008 3:26 AM]

"I find that another English writer -- who, coincidentally, also spent most of his life in the East -- has expressed it very well. So let me end with these words of Rudyard Kipling:

If I have given you delight
by aught that I have done.
Let me lie quiet in that night
which shall be yours anon;

And for the little, little span
the dead are borne in mind,
seek not to question other than,
the books I leave behind."

-Clarke, on his 90th birthday last year. ( link

RIP

:'(

[#60 posted by Simon Greenwood , March 19, 2008 3:40 AM]

I don't think that his was the first SF that I read, but it was 'Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations' that turned me onto ACC as an author and science fiction in general at about age nine. It's one of his less well known books as it tends to be regarded as non-fiction but had some excellent ruminations on the state of science and speculation in 1972, including one my favourite short pieces of his 'So You're Going to Mars?'. It's rather sad that he didn't manage to see man reach the red planet but I don't think I'm going to see that in my lifetime.

[#61 posted by rlkeith , March 19, 2008 4:36 AM]

I first read The City and the Stars when I was nine, before 2001 was a movie, and I come back to it every couple of years. If he had stopped there he would have been a merely great science fiction writer.

Some things just wear a path into the mind. For me it was reading the brand new Rendezvous with Rama multiple times and listening to Everybody Knows this is Nowhere while in bed with the flu. Now I can't read or hear one without being transported to the other.

No-one else did Sense of Wonder sci-fi that well.

Rob

[#62 posted by airship , March 19, 2008 6:53 AM]

#32 Tom P, I wish I had said that. :(

[#63 posted by Elysianartist , March 19, 2008 6:58 AM]

ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS

Rest In Peace Sir Arthur.
He was amazing and so many memories are flooding back to me now.I especially like the idea of erecting a monolith in Tycho. Let's do it!!

[#64 posted by MarlboroTestMonkey7 , March 19, 2008 7:25 AM]

Thanks and godspeed, Arthur

[#65 posted by spike55151 , March 19, 2008 8:33 AM]

What a sad day,... What a loss. The world won't be the same without him.

[#66 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , March 19, 2008 9:47 AM]

Technogeek (22), he didn't just predict the geosynchronous satellite. He came up with the idea of using geostationary-orbit satellites as telecommunications relays.

Wingbatwu (41), Yes, he had aides. He needed them. He'd had polio when he was younger, and got chewed up by post-polio syndrome as he aged.

BWCBWC (52), I think he's the last. Bradbury started making pro sales earlier, but he didn't really belong to that first astonished generation. Brian Aldiss and Christopher Anvil are a later emanation as well.

These occasions always remind me of something Gordy Dickson said, the last time I talked to him: "When the last of us die who remember a world without science fiction, the field will be a different place."

[#67 posted by Sparrow , March 19, 2008 10:13 AM]

His works will go on, even after we catch up to them. Rest in Peace.

[#68 posted by Brother Phil , March 19, 2008 3:15 PM]

The last of the Grand Masters has gone into the infinite future. I remember his article on T numbers, and am trying to figure out some maths to expand and explore the concept - he inspired me to to understand stuff that's so far in advance of everything, you need to invent the tools. I still think of Calindy whenever I taste honey.

[#69 posted by dculberson , March 19, 2008 6:23 PM]

Clarke is without a doubt my favorite author of any kind, particularly of SciFi. He not only wrote good scifi, he did it with a class that was rare for the field. [no old men consorting with nubile girls, etc.] He taught me that atheists can have morals - sometimes more deeply rooted than those of religious people. He helped me grow in wonderful ways without ever meeting me.

The world is truly a better place for his having spent those years here.

[#70 posted by amaynard , March 20, 2008 5:24 PM]

March 18th marked the passing of a hero of science.

A master developer and assembler of ideas, Clarke will be remembered fondly by many for igniting their enthusiasm for science, and how it might be used to better our lives. His passing leaves a hole in the ranks of science heroes who inspire us to look beyond the obvious, and question the unquestionable.

Clarke excelled in increasing people’s interest in and understanding of science, and laying the grounds for informed science engagement—demonstrating unequivocally that fiction is a powerful illuminator of truths in the world of facts. He will be sorely missed in a society that is increasingly reliant on technologies to solve new and old challenges—including nanotechnology. Who now will inspire us to fully engage in the opportunities and challenges that twenty first century science and technology promises?

http://community.safenano.org/blogs/andrew_maynard/archive/2008/03/19/the-passing-of-a-science-hero.aspx

[#71 posted by ArchMind , March 23, 2008 10:30 AM]

It's clear to me that his name will be revered throughout the future history of our species.

He will certainly be missed. What remains to be said about this man and his visions is probably without end.

Rest in peace, Arthur.