Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Many years to Arthur C. Clarke

May his Memory be eternal…

Perhaps his remains can be placed in Clarke Orbit (His greatest contribution to technology is creating the conceptual framework for geostationary satellites—machines that would remain in the same spot above the earth and act as relay stations for signals from the ground, covering a wide area. He published a paper about the concept in 1945, which was ultimately realized two decades later. The orbit into which geostationary satellites are placed is now known as the Clarke Orbit.)

Also known for his books - see list here:  http://www.clarkefoundation.org/acc/bibliography.php

Clarke was an inspiration to me as a writer.  He blended scientific expertise and imagination together seamlessly.  Monday night on “The Big Bang Theory” they had a segment at the beginning where they were hooking up X10 to various items.  They then, by touching a button on the laptop sent a signal around the world and to the stereo.  When it came on, what was playing was the opening music from 2001: A Space Odessy (1968) and the four geeks jumped around mimicing the scene… it was very funny and reminded me of the thorough and complete genius of the movie and of Sir Clarke (and Kubrick).

One of Clarke’s desires was for man to “discover” extraterrestrial beings… too bad he did not get his wish.