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Science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke died yesterday at his home in Sri Lanka. Clarke was the visionary behind many influential sci-fi works including “Childhood’s End”, “Rendezvous with Rama” and, of course, “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

Clarke’s close collaboration with Stanley Kubrick on the film adaptation of “2001″ in 1968, brought forth an epic change in the way science fiction was imagined on the screen. Classics such as “Silent Running”, “Colossus: The Forbin Project” and even Woody Allen’s “Sleeper” would not have happened if Clarke and Kubrick hadn’t broken the ground first, and, most certainly, 20th Century Fox may never have taken a risk with such a fantastic property as “Star Wars” if not for the fact that since “2001″, science fiction and fantasy was starting to be taken seriously.

Beyond fiction, Clarke was also responsible for initially developing the concept of telecommunication relay via satellite in a paper published in 1945. Geostationary orbit is, in fact, sometimes referred to as “The Clarke Belt”. Since the turn of this century, Clarke had been championing the idea of a “space elevator” as a cheap and effective way of reaching space — a concept that is actually seriously being developed, despite naysayers.

On man’s future in space and those who regard the idea as folly, Clarke once said:

… if you had intelligent fish arguing about why they should go out on dry land, some bright young fish might have thought of many things but they would never have thought of fire and I think that in space we will find things as useful as fire.

Mr. Clarke’s fiercely creative mind will be missed on this planet.

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