“I
don't pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth
thinking about.” – Arthur C. Clarke
Born in England on this date in
1917, Clarke wrote dozens of best-selling science fiction books and short
stories but is perhaps best known for penning the screenplay for one of the top
100 movies of all time, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
A lifelong
proponent of space travel, he joined the British Interplanetary Society while
still a teenager and ultimately served for many years as its chairman. Not only a writer but also a gifted thinker
and planner, he proposed a prototype satellite communication system as early in
1945.
Clarke emigrated
from England to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) in 1956, to pursue his interest in
scuba diving. There, he discovered the
underwater ruins of the ancient Koneswaram Temple off its coast. Clarke augmented his popularity as a writer by
hosting several international popular television shows, including the award
winning “Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World.”
The author of 21
novels, 15 nonfiction books, and 12 collections of short stories, Clarke was
knighted for his achievements by Queen Elizabeth, named a Grand Master by the
Science Fiction Writers of America, and awarded Sri Lanka’s highest civilian
honor for his service to science, culture and his adopted nation. 
“The only way to discover the limits of the possible,”
Clarke once said, “is to go beyond them into the impossible.”
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