Arthur C Clarke dies at 90 Mar 19, 2008 7 comments Arthur C
Clarke, the veteran science fiction writer, has died in Sri
Lanka aged 90. Aside from the total of nigh-on 100 books to his
name, Clarke will be remembered for his foresight for scientific
endeavour, including the idea of positioning satellites 35,800
km above the equator to achieve a “geostationary” orbit suitable
for radio communications. Clarke was born the son of a farmer
and post-office worker on 16 December 1917 in the seaside town
of Minehead in south-west England. His interest in science
started young with a fondness for stories by Jules Verne and H G
Wells, and the popular US science fiction magazine, Astounding
Stories of Super-Science. In 1941, during World War II, he
enlisted in the Royal Air Force (RAF) where he would stay as a
specialist in radar for five years. It was while in service that
he wrote the paper, published in the UK journal Wireless World,
that put forward the possibility of geostationary satellites for
relaying radio comm