 Sir Arthur C Clarke was famous for his science fiction writing |
The Somerset-born author achieved his greatest fame in 1968 when his short story The Sentinel was turned into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
His visions of space travel and computing sparked the imagination of readers and scientists alike.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse paid tribute, hailing the writer as a "great visionary".
Since 1995, the author had been largely confined to a wheelchair by post-polio syndrome.
He died at 0130 local time (2000 GMT) of respiratory complications and heart failure, according to his aide, Rohan De Silva.
Far-seeing scientist
"Sir Arthur has left written instructions that his funeral be strictly secular," his secretary, Nalaka Gunawardene, was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
She said the author had requested "absolutely no religious rites of any kind".
A farmer's son, Sir Arthur was educated at Huish's Grammar School in Taunton before joining the civil service.
 |  A great science fiction writer, a very good scientist, a great prophet and a very dear friend  Sir Patrick Moore  |
He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and foresaw the concept of communication satellites.
Sir Arthur's detailed descriptions of space shuttles, super-computers and rapid communications systems inspired millions of readers.
When asked why he never patented his idea for communication satellites, he said: "I did not get a patent because I never thought it will happen in my lifetime."
In the 1940s, he maintained man would reach the moon by the year 2000, an idea dismissed at the time.
He was the author of more than 100 fiction and non-fiction books, and his writings are credited by many observers with giving science fiction a human and practical face. He collaborated on the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey with the film's director Stanley Kubrick.
'Great prophet'
British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore had known Sir Arthur since they met as teenagers at the British Interplanetary Society.
Sir Patrick paid tribute to his friend, remembering him as "a very sincere person" with "a strong sense of humour".
Tributes have also come from George Whitesides, the executive director of the National Space Society, where Sir Arthur served on the board of governors, and fellow science fiction writer Terry Pratchett.
His writing inspired many people to wonder what might be possible
The author married in 1953, and was divorced in 1964. He had no children.
He moved to the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka in 1956 after embarking on a study of the Great Barrier Reef.
There, he pursued his interest in scuba diving, even setting up a diving school at Hikkaduwa, near the capital, Colombo.
"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," he recalled recently.
"I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these, I would like to be remembered as a writer."
A statement from Sir Arthur's office said he had recently reviewed the final manuscript of his latest novel.
The Last Theorem, co-written with Frederik Pohl, will be published later this year, it said.
I find this an amazing synchronicity because literally, last night, I picked up a book by Arthur C. Clarke called "The City And The Stars" and began reading it last night. I wanted to share an excerpt in a writeup on science fiction writers that was going to be coming up, but I feel I should do it now. This book was written in 1954 and has some amazing hidden tid-bits within. The name of the main city in the story is called Diaspar, now if your any good at anagrams, you will realize that this is actually "Paradis" or "Paradise" (without the E of course). The back of the book sums it up nicely:
World Shattering Truths
On a world decimated by apocalypse, two isolated city-nations stand alone. Long millennia ago, their leaders determined that the only way to avoid absolute destruction would be to cut off all communication between them. But, in one city of ten millions people--utterly unaware of the other's existence--lives a restless young man named Alvin whose curiosity and perseverance are about to lead him to a startling discovery. It may take only one person to topple the conventions of his society is built on--and to end a carefully insulated way of life forever.
I was blown away with the opening of Chapter 13, which I will only quote the beginning passage as to not give away too much, but you interpret it yourself and see what hidden meanings you see here:
The Master had come to Earth amid the chaos of the Transition Centuries, when the Galactic Empire was crumbling but the lines of communication among the stars had not yet completely broken. He had been of human origin, though his home was a planet circling one of the Seven Suns. While still a young man, he had been forced to leave his native world, and it's memory had haunted him all his life. His expulsion he on vindictive enemies, but the fact was that he suffered from an incurable malady which, it seemed, attacked only Homo sapiens among all the intelligent races of the Universe. That disease was religious mania.
Throughout the earlier part of its history, the human race had brought forth an endless succession of prophets, seers, messiahs, and evangelists who convinced themselves and their followers that to them alone were the secrets of the Universe revealed. Some of them succeeded in establishing religions that survived for many generations and influenced billions of men, others were forgotten even before their deaths.
The rise of science, which with monotonous regularity refuted the cosmologies of the prophets and produced miracles which they could never match, eventually destroyed all these faiths. It did not destroy the awe, nor the reverence and humility, which all intelligent beings felt as they contemplated the stupendous Universe in which they found themselves. What it did weaken, and finally obliterate, were the countless religions, each of which claimed with unbelievable arrogance, that it was the sole repository of the truth and that its millions of rivals and predecessors were all mistaken.
Yet, though, they never possessed any real power once humanity had reached a very elementary level of civilization, all down the ages isolated cults had continued to appear, and however fantastic their creeds they always managed to attract some disciples. They thrived with particular strength during periods of confusion and disorder, and it was not surprising that the Transition Centuries and seen a great outburst of irrationality. When reality was depressing, men tried to console themselves with myths.
The Master, even if he was expelled from his own world, did not leave it unprovided. The Seven Suns had been the center of galactic power and science, and he must have possessed influential friends. He had made his hegira in a small but speedy ship, reputed to be one of the fastest ever built. With him into exile he had taken another of the ultimate products of galactic science--the robot that was looking at Alvin and Hilvar even now...
I am going to leave it off there, but there is some amazing information there if you know how to read "between the lines"...Alas, we have Sir Arthur Clarke passing into the great beyond and off to explore the "Secrets of the Universe". May he surf the tides of the Milky Way in awe.
~~peace and wisdom to all~~
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