Of his various technical and scientific papers, one of them, 'Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?' ( Wireless World, 1945) introduced the concept that geostationary satellites could make excellent telecommunications relays. His first piece of fiction to see publication was 'Rescue Party', in Astounding Science, May 1946. Even as he served as a radar specialist in the RAF during World War II, he was simultaneously writing and submitting science fiction stories and technical papers. His apartment eventually became headquarters to the British Interplanetary Society, with Clarke becoming its chairman in 1949. Clarke was forced to look for work, at last taking a position as an auditor, but continued to pursue his earlier scientific interests. His mother offered riding lessons to offset their money troubles, but she was unable to provide enough money for her son to attend university. When Clarke was 14 his father died and the family's savings declined.

The eldest of four children, he enjoyed stargazing as a child and had a great enthusiasm for sci-fi pulp magazines like Astounding Stories. The recipient of at least three Hugo Awards and two Nebulas, as well as a host of other acknowledgements, he was also well recognized as an inventor, an editor, and a science commentator.Īrthur Charles Clarke was born 16 December 1917 in the English coastal town of Minehead, in Somerset. Clarke's fiction is credited with combining flawlessly accurate technical details with such philosophically expansive themes as 'spiritual' rebirth and the search for man's place in the universe.

Heinlein, he was especially identified with his novels Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Deemed on par with authors like Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Clarke was one of the world's best-selling authors of science fiction and was widely considered one of the masters of the genre. Remains: Buried, Colombo General Cemetery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

The nine billion names of god summary