Arthur C. Clarke

British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)

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Lived 1917–2008, aged 91United Kingdom

United Kingdom WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
90 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1917–2008
Aged 91
Known for
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He sketched the satellite grid that would wire the planet decades before the first one launched, then co-wrote the film that redefined what science fiction could be on screen.

Biography

About

Clarke joined the British Interplanetary Society as a teenager in 1934 and in 1945 proposed a satellite communication system using geostationary orbits—a concept that would underpin global telecommunications. His science fiction writing, which earned him Hugo and Nebula awards and a UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 1961, placed him alongside Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov in the genre's "Big Three." The 1968 screenplay he co-wrote for 2001: A Space Odyssey became one of the most influential films ever made. In 1956 he moved to Ceylon to dive, discovered underwater ruins of the ancient Koneswaram Temp…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke

said1956

If the artist did not know his goal, even the most miraculous of tools could not find it for him.

— Ch. 2, p. 13

Arthur C. Clarke

said1956

Somewhere back at the beginning I was chosen to be Jester, and there is only one Jester at a time in Diaspar. Most people think that is one too many.

— Ch. 5, p. 33

Arthur C. Clarke

said1956

There still remained, for all men to share, the linked worlds of love and art.

— Ch. 5, p. 37

Arthur C. Clarke

said1956

Khedron was content with the order of things as it was. True, he might upset that order from time to time—but only by a little. He was a critic, not a revolutionary.

— Ch. 7, p. 44

Arthur C. Clarke

said1953