What is Arthur C. Clarke?
{{Infobox writer|image=Clarke cropped.jpg|caption=Arthur C. Clarke in 2005|pseudonym=Charles Willis<br/>E. G. O'Brien|birth_name=Arthur Charles Clarke|birth_date={{Birth date|1917|12|16|df=yes}}|birth_place=[[Minehead]], Somerset, England|death_date={{death date and age|2008|3|19|1917|12|16|df=yes}}|death_place=[[Colombo]], Sri Lanka|occupation={{flatlist| * Writer * inventor * futurist}}|alma_mater=[[King's College London]]|spouse={{marriage|Marilyn Mayfield<br/>|1953|1964|end=div}}|period=1946–2008|genre=[[Science fiction]]<br/>[[Popular science]]|subject=Science|notableworks=''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]''|website={{URL|http://clarkefoundation.org/}}|honorific prefix=[[Sir]]|honorific suffix={{postnom|country=GBR|size=100|CBE|FRAS}}}}Sir '''Arthur Charles Clarke''' ([[Minehead]], [[Somerset]], 6 December 1917 – [[Colombo]], [[Sri Lanka]], 19 March 2008) was a [[British people|British]] [[writer]] and [[inventor]]. He was most famous for his [[science fiction]] [[novel]] ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'', and for working with [[movie director|director]] [[Stanley Kubrick]] on the movie of the same name. Clarke and [[Isaac Asimov]] were probably the two best-known science fiction writers of their day. Some of Clarke's novels include ''[[Childhood's End]]'', ''[[A Fall of Moondust]]'', ''[[The Songs of Distant Earth]]'', ''[[The Sands of Mars]]'', and ''[[Meeting with Medusa]]''. He also wrote many [[short story|short stories]], and several serious works on science.<ref>Clarke, Arthur C. 1950. ''Interplanetary flight: an introduction to astronautics''. London: Temple Press.</ref><ref>Clarke, Arthur C. 1951. ''The exploration of space''. London: Temple Press, 1951. Updated/revised 1959 and 1979 (with a new introduction).</ref><ref>Clarke, Arthur C. 1962. ''Profiles of the future''. London: Gollancz, and Pan Books.</ref> Clarke served in the [[Royal Air Force]] as a [[radar]] instructor and technician from 1941 to 1946. He proposed a [[satellite (artificial)|satellite]] communication system in 1945 which won him the [[