Arthur C Clarke

Arthur C Clarke has died in Sri Lanka. He was 90, so it's fair to say that he had a good innings. He wrote so much that it's difficult to recommend any one thing, although a personal favourite was "Tales from the White Hart".

He also invented (or pointed out perhaps) the idea of geostationary orbits, he worked on radar, and of course he wrote the short story, The Sentinel, which the movie 2001 is based upon.

Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction visionary best known for the groundbreaking 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, a psychedelic epic of mankind's encounter with never-seen aliens, died Wednesday at age 90.

The English writer died in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since 1956. He had been in poor health in recent years, confined to a wheelchair due to the effects of post-polio syndrome.

He was a scientist, a philosopher and a prolific author who penned more than 80 books and 500 essays during his lifetime, including fiction and non-fiction. His 1951 short story The Sentinel became the foundation for 2001.

RIP.