This is another sad day here at the CrunchGear offices. Arthur C. Clarke, arguably the greatest sci-fi author of all time, has reportedly passed away. He had just turned 90 years old.
There aren’t many details — indeed, the AP article is one sentence long — but it’s something fans had seen coming for awhile.
Clarke is famous for penning the 2001 series of books, and loved by geeks for inventing the concept of the communications satellite.
Thanks, sir, for the good reads.
I first became aware of Arthur C. Clarke in the Summer of 1960 when I bought a used paperback entitled “The City and the Stars.” Once I started reading, I was almost instantly transported to the Earth of the novel billions of years from now. Nothing I had ever read so captivated me, and even now, 48 years later, I still vividly recall the elation that the reading of this novel brought to me. I went on to read virtually all of his works, yet, for me, nothing affected me as much as his depiction of mankind’s possible future.
I feel that much of my interest in science and mankind’s future were deeply shaped by his writings, and it made the world a better place for me. He will be deeply missed by a great many people. Farewell, Sir Arthur.