Arthur C. Clarke (Arthur Charles Clarke) Biography

British writer, born in Somerset, educated at King's College, London. He is the only contemporary British author to dominate the entire field of science fiction. He was noted for the originality and clarity of his non-fiction, much of it promulgating the lure and necessity of space travel, and as early as 1945 originated in an article the concept of the geosynchronous communication satellite. In his visions of the future he embodied a sense of the wisdom of technological progress. From 1946, with the publication of ‘Rescue Party’ in the American Astounding, Clarke's reputation became established, but it was with his fifth novel, Childhood's End (1953), that his true voice became heard; in this meditation on man's evolutionary destiny, a remoteness is combined with the urgent narrative techniques of the American pulp tradition. Its hypnotic effect can also be seen in other novels, such as The City and the Stars (1956), The Deep Range (1957), Rendezvous with Rama (1973), and The Fountains of Paradise (1979). His shorter fiction appeared in several collections including Expedition to Earth (1953), Reach for Tomorrow (1956), Tales from the White Hart (1957), The Other Side of the Sky (1958), and The Nine Billion Names of God (1967). Clarke achieved wide recognition when his early short story was adapted by Stanley Kubrick into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). See also Utopia and Anti-Utopia.