Science fiction and science writer Arthur C. Clarke dies at age 90.
Arthur C. Clarke died today at age 90. Clarke was best known as a science fiction writer and I have enjoyed reading his science fiction since childhood. Clarke's science fiction combined excellent science with excellent story telling. Like many scientists, I prefer science fiction that is based on solid science.
Clarke's best known science fiction story may very well be 2001: A Space Odyssey. The book and movie, which was produced in collaboration with Stanley Kubrick, came out at time when 2001 seemed impossibly far in the future. Many science fiction books are based on good science, but the movie remains a rarity in that it is one of the few Hollywood science fiction movies with accurate science.
In addition to science fiction, Arthur C. Clarke did good science. His contribution to science that most affects us on a daily basis is the idea of communications satellites in geosynchronous orbits. At the time Clarke suggested the idea, it was more science fiction than science. The first satellite would not be launched into orbit for over a decade.
Like many brilliant ideas, it is elegantly simple. Launch a satellite to an orbital distance with an orbital period of 24 hours so that it stays above the same location on Earth. It is a relatively simple physics problem to figure out the required orbital distance. Satellites in geosynchronous orbits are very useful for communications satellites, because satellite TV and communications antennae do not have to move to track the satellite.
How many more of Clarke's science fiction ideas will someday become reality?
