Arthur C. Clarke, inventor of satellite, visionary in technology, dead at 90

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Today is a very sad day in our little world. It's been reported that Arthur C. Clarke, among the most influential visionaries in technology and a personal hero of Engadget readers and editors both, has died in hospital care at the age of 90. Along with his many written works (such as the infamous and immeasurably influential 2001: A Space Odyssey), Clarke was possibly best known for conceptualizing the geostationary communications satellite -- clearly one of the most important technological innovations in history.

Arthur, you'll be dearly missed.

[Neebs @ Mar 18th 2008 5:59PM]

Wonder if they'll send send his body/ashes up into orbit? Always sad when one of these great visionaries dies.

[Nabil @ Mar 18th 2008 6:29PM]

No they won't....they don't want the Navy to shoot it down.

J/K...I hope I can be that old when I die.

[James Cameron @ Mar 18th 2008 6:46PM]

A true Master of Sci Fi. Can't wait for movies coming out base on his books.

[James Cameron @ Mar 18th 2008 6:50PM]

I don't believe in God but I'm very interested in her.
Arthur C. Clarke

[JohnTitor @ Mar 18th 2008 7:00PM]

damn, it would have been cool if they made 2061 before he died, Tom Hanks wanted to but never got around to it

[erik @ Mar 23rd 2008 7:49PM]

Death... the final frontier

[HAL10000 @ Mar 18th 2008 9:55PM]

Actually, he did once mention sending DNA from his hair into space (to be discovered by alien races... dunno if it was meant to be a joke or not.

[Scott Stevenson @ Mar 18th 2008 6:02PM]

Man, that is way tragic. I always had a bit of a fantasy to one day meet him.

-Scott

[lonecow @ Mar 18th 2008 6:08PM]

Tragic? He was 90. He had a good life.

He was my favorite writer all through high school. Childhood's End was my favorite of his works.

[OSnix*-geek @ Mar 18th 2008 6:28PM]

I was just about to post a comment about childhoods end. I always thought it should be an actual movie, and not some adaptation based on it.

Great books, great thinker!

[BigBirdUK @ Mar 18th 2008 7:11PM]

I was lucky enough to meet him whilst having a cup of tea in the Imperial Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka back in 98. He was, as you can imagine, quite frail then but was obviously still as sharp as a hawk in that he spotted I was reading a Sci-Fi book - specifically something by Bruce Sterling.

Ended up sharing a cup of tea with him and talking about modern Science Fiction, cost of milk at home etc. I chickened out of asking for his autograph though - something I regret to this very day.

[smilespray @ Mar 18th 2008 6:02PM]

Very sad. Truly one of the great ones.

[fred @ Mar 18th 2008 8:36PM]

You know I honestly thought that he had passed years ago.

I used to watch the reruns of his "Mysterious World"(?) show from the 1970s on A&E, and he looked pretty old at that time.

[Tony C @ Mar 18th 2008 6:06PM]

90 or 91?

[whatever @ Mar 18th 2008 6:06PM]

Truly, one of the most visionary person of our times.

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Mar 18th 2008 6:07PM]

So, the headline says he was 90, the text says 91. Which is it?

Other news outlets are saying 90. Wikipedia has his birthday as "16 December 1917," so that'd make him 90.

[rstevens @ Mar 18th 2008 6:07PM]

He was probably too smart to believe in God, but amen nonetheless.

[Jeebus @ Mar 18th 2008 6:30PM]

Blasphemer!

[MBN @ Mar 18th 2008 6:52PM]

Now perhaps he knows whether there's a God.

Too smart?

[rpolunsky @ Mar 18th 2008 8:00PM]

Belief? Re-read The Nine Million Names Of God.

requiescat in pace

[Oliver @ Mar 18th 2008 6:09PM]

CRAP!

A great shame. He will be missed!

[Anthony @ Mar 18th 2008 6:10PM]

Rest well smart guy.

[dramamoose @ Mar 18th 2008 6:11PM]

My hero, both when I was younger and today. I'm not sure where he was on the whole death issue, but wherever he is, or isn't, I hope he is at peace.

[Crazylink @ Mar 18th 2008 6:14PM]

Look guys, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.

[m @ Mar 18th 2008 7:35PM]

i fail to understand the point of your comment. perhaps you are ignorant of his contributions to both literature and science? or just a dick?

[Crazylink @ Mar 18th 2008 7:48PM]

It's a quote from one of his books, prick.

[MBN @ Mar 18th 2008 7:56PM]

C'mon, m. Serious?

[JCA @ Mar 18th 2008 9:39PM]

Oh M,

I thought we talked about letting your ignorance pwn you?

Your like a 3rd testicle. Fun to point and laugh at but ultimately useless....

[Nathan Sacks @ Mar 18th 2008 9:50PM]

best analogy ever. pwned

[m @ Mar 18th 2008 10:24PM]

let's talk about the importance of quotation marks first, and then i'll concede to being pwned. it was a poorly chosen passage, under the circumstances.

[Crazylink @ Mar 18th 2008 11:12PM]

Okay, I admit that I should have used quotation marks.

[hp540 @ Mar 18th 2008 6:15PM]

A very sad day indeed. My childhood reading consisted of novels from the greats: Carl Sagan, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and of course Arthur C. Clarke. Ah, maybe it's time to dust off some of his classics again: the crazy alien spaceship in "Rendezvous with Rama" or the Space Elevator in "The Fountains of Paradise". Brings back great memories of carefree summer days.

[decypher44 @ Mar 18th 2008 6:17PM]

Speaking of RAMA, wan't there going to be a series of movies coming up soon?

[WTangoFoxtrot @ Mar 18th 2008 6:39PM]

u serious, ive always wanted to see what RAMA would look like on the big screen, it was an amazing series !

[rob @ Mar 18th 2008 6:43PM]

Rendezvous with Rama (2009)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134933/

[David @ Mar 18th 2008 6:50PM]

yup, Morgan Freeman is going to play the captain, because he said like 8 years ago he wanted it to be turned into a movie, and so hes making it himself.

http://www.revelationsent.com/site/index.html

sad to see Arthur C. clarke go, i only just discovered his books.

[Abuzar @ Mar 18th 2008 10:11PM]

The octospiders were pretty badass. I wanna see them on the big screen.

[Duxxyuk @ Mar 26th 2008 4:58AM]

Well said hp540. He will be sorely missed.

[Eric @ Mar 18th 2008 6:17PM]

That's terrible. I've been re-reading all of his books the last few weeks. I just finished today. That is a little creepy.

What a great scientific mind and storyteller he was. A rare combination.

[Jeebus @ Mar 18th 2008 6:32PM]

You should have kept reading. Perhaps by finishing his works, you finished him.

[David @ Mar 19th 2008 12:52AM]

jeebus. that was kind of mean, i just finished reading the Odyssey series, Rendezvous with Rama, Songs of distant planet earth, and a couple others like a week ago

[Killer @ Mar 18th 2008 6:18PM]

A fitting end to an extraordinary individual. Thank you Arthur C. Clarke for everything you accomplished in your life. I didn't know you, but I wish I had gotten to meet one of the most significant inventors that made this modern technological day that I live in. May you rest in peace.

[Bassir @ Mar 18th 2008 6:18PM]

GOODNIGHT, SWEET PRINCE

[MearWolf @ Mar 18th 2008 6:21PM]

a great loss to the world

[WTangoFoxtrot @ Mar 18th 2008 6:22PM]

A very tragic day for humanity indeed, we have lost one of our greatest visionaries.

[Doug @ Mar 18th 2008 7:56PM]

IMDB lists the "Rendezvous With Rama" movie as being released next year.

[Sasha S. @ Mar 18th 2008 6:23PM]

Arthur,

you will be missed. Your books insipred me to become a better geek and better man!

we will all miss you!

[portwineboy @ Mar 18th 2008 6:26PM]

I'm going to pop 2001 into the HD-DVD tonight in his honor.

[Jeebus @ Mar 18th 2008 6:33PM]

That'll be a fitting memorial, considering that HD DVD is dead too.

[MBN @ Mar 18th 2008 6:39PM]

Too bad Kubrick's ending to the movie didn't do the book justice. It was just way too freaky.