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Arthur C. Clarke Died

March 19, 2008 | People
Arthur C. Clarke, the U.K. science- fiction writer and futurist visionary, best known for the novel adapted for the film "2001: A Space Odyssey,'' has died. He was 90.

The author of almost 100 books, Clarke was an ardent promoter of the idea that humanity's destiny lay beyond the confines of Earth. It was a vision served most vividly by "2001: A Space Odyssey," the classic 1968 science-fiction film he created with the director Stanley Kubrick and the novel of the same title that he wrote as part of the project. In a slow-motion scene, the man-ape uses the bone to smash a skeleton in an increasingly violent frenzy, accompanied by Richard Strauss's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra.'' The theme was used by Elvis Presley as his opening song when he came on stage for his concerts

Arthur C. Clarke was honored with a British knighthood in 2000, and his work inspired the names of some spacecrafts, an asteroid and even a species of dinosaur.
Source:Various
SendToTodd wrote on March 20, 2008
Arthur Clarke invented the communications satellite, and calculated the "Clarke Belt" the distance from earth that a satellite should reach after launch to establish its geostationary orbit enabling the transponders to link two points 24 hours a day. This 22,500 miles above earth position gave Elvis the opportunity to broadcast to the world frrom Hawaii via three such satellites. Without that man's vision "Aloha From Hawaii" would not have been made and telecommunications as we know them today would still be via cables underneath the sea.