Clarke, Arthur Charles

SUBJECT AREA: Aerospace, Telecommunications

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b. 16 December 1917 Minehead, Somerset, England

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English writer of science fiction who correctly predicted the use of geo-stationary earth satellites for worldwide communications.

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Whilst still at Huish's Grammar School, Taunton, Clarke became interested in both space science and science fiction. Unable to afford a scientific education at the time (he later obtained a BSc at King's College, London), he pursued both interests in his spare time while working in the Government Exchequer and Audit Department between 1936 and 1941. He was a founder member of the British Interplanetary Society, subsequently serving as its Chairman in 1946–7 and 1950–3. From 1941 to 1945 he served in the Royal Air Force, becoming a technical officer in the first GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) radar unit. There he began to produce the first of many science-fiction stories. In 1949–50 he was an assistant editor of Science Abstracts at the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

As a result of his two interests, he realized during the Second World War that an artificial earth satellite in an equatorial orbital with a radius of 35,000 km (22,000 miles) would appear to be stationary, and that three such geo-stationary, or synchronous, satellites could be used for worldwide broadcast or communications. He described these ideas in a paper published in Wireless World in 1945. Initially there was little response, but within a few years the idea was taken up by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and in 1965 the first synchronous satellite, Early Bird, was launched into orbit.

In the 1950s he moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to pursue an interest in underwater exploration, but he continued to write science fiction, being known in particular for his contribution to the making of the classic Stanley Kubrick science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, based on his book of the same title.

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Principal Honours and Distinctions

Clarke received many honours for both his scientific and science-fiction writings. For his satellite communication ideas his awards include the Franklin Institute Gold Medal 1963 and Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 1976. For his science-fiction writing he received the UNESCO Kalinga Prize (1961) and many others. In 1979 he became Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka and in 1980 Vikran Scrabhai Professor at the Physical Research Laboratory of the University of Ahmedabad.

Bibliography

1945. "Extra-terrestrial relays: can rocket stations give world wide coverage?", Wireless World L1: 305 (puts forward his ideas for geo-stationary communication satellites).

1946. "Astronomical radar: some future possibilities", Wireless World 52:321.

1948, "Electronics and space flight", Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 7:49. Other publications, mainly science-fiction novels, include: 1955, Earthlight, 1956, The

Coast of Coral; 1958, Voice Across the Sea; 1961, Fall of Moondust; 1965, Voices

from the Sky, 1977, The View from Serendip; 1979, Fountain of Paradise; 1984, Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography, and 1984, 2010: Odyssey Two (a sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey that was also made into a film).

Further Reading

1986, Encyclopaedia Britannica.

1991, Who's Who, London: A. \& C.Black.

See also: Pierce, John Robinson

KF