On Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke’s eponymous foundation, describes him as an Engineer, a Futurist and a Humanist. Clarke thought of himself as a writer, underwater explorer, space promoter and science populariser. Doubtless, Clarke was a man of many talents whose work helped shape the world we live in today.
Among his many contributions as an award-winning engineer, Clarke helped advance geostationary satellite technology for telecommunications. As a result, the International Astronomical Union named the 32,000 kilometres (22,000 miles) above the equator where satellites orbit, the Clarke Orbit. In addition, Clarke’s correspondence with Dr Harry Wexler, the chief of the Scientific Services Division of the U.S. Weather Bureau, about satellite applications for weather forecasting, led to the use of rockets and satellites for meteorological research.
Clarke was a writer of science fiction and non-fiction. In his collection of essays, Profiles of the Future published in 1962, Clarke made many accurate (and wrong) predictions about the future of technology and space science.
His vision of communications in the five decades to come was uncannily accurate. When he turned out not to be right, it isn’t clear that he was altogether wrong… And even when he got the big picture wrong, he was often spot on with the details. He mildly observed that the first astronauts would need to be scholar-scientist-engineers as well as courageous pioneer-explorers. He was right about that, but wrong (so far) about settlements on Mars and Venus.
- Tim Radford, Profiles of the Future by Arthur C Clarke — review
Clarke proffered the so called Clarke’s 3 laws about the nature of technology and discovery, the third of which is probably the best known and most widely cited. They are:
- When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
- The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
- Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future (1962)
Clarke co-wrote the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick, which was inspired by a number of Clarke’s short stories.
Clarke was also a teacher and broadcaster who popularised science and tried to make it accessible to everyone. He was interested in how humans relate to the natural world. Clarke was concerned about the kind of natural legacy we would leave future generations, and advocated for the move away from fossil fuels.
… we have a situation in which millions of vehicles, each a miracle of (often unnecessary) complication, are hurtling in all directions under the impulse of anything up to two hundred horsepower. Many of them are the size of small houses and contain a couple of tons of sophisticated alloys — yet often carry a single passenger. They can travel at a hundred miles an hour, but are lucky if they average forty. In one lifetime they have consumed more irreplaceable fuel than has been used in the whole previous history of mankind. The roads to support them, inadequate though they are, cost as much as a small war; the analogy is a good one, for the casualties are on the same scale.
- Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future (1962)
Clarke understood that it would take transnational cooperation to solve our common problems. On is 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video in which he said:
I would like to see us kick our current addiction to oil, and adopt clean energy sources. … Climate change has now added a new sense of urgency. Our civilisation depends on energy, but we can’t allow oil and coal to slowly bake our planet…
Clarke was born in Somerset on 16th December 1917, and lived in Sri Lanka for 52 years. During his time there, Clarke was interested in diving, until post-polio syndrome bound him to a wheel chair. He died on 19th March 2008 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, aged 90, where he’s buried with his Sri Lankan partner Leslie Ekanayake. Of his many contributions, writing is what Clarke wished to be remembered for:
I’m sometimes asked how I would like to be remembered. I’ve had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer, space promoter and science populariser. Of all these, I want to be remembered most as a writer - one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well.
- Arthur C. Clarke: 90th Birthday Reflections (YouTube), at 7.28 mins, accessed November 2024