Arthur Charles Clarke

  

Arthur Charles Clarke from 16 December 1917  to 19 March 2008. He was a British science fiction writer, popularizer of space travel, futurist and inventor.
He is perhaps most famous for being co-writer of the screenplay for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, generally considered one of the most influential films of all time. His other science fiction writings earned him a number of Hugo and Nebula awards, along with a large readership, making him into one of the towering figures of the field. For many years he, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, were known as the "Big Three" of science fiction. Clarke was also a science writer, who was both an ardent proponent of space travel and a futurist of uncanny ability, who won several awards in the field. These all together eventually earned him the moniker "prophet of the space age".
Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician from 1941 to 1946. In 1945, he proposed a satellite communication system—an idea that, in 1963, won him the Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal. He was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 1947 to 1950 and again in 1953.
In 1956, Clarke emigrated to Sri Lanka, largely to pursue his interest in scuba diving.That year, he discovered the underwater ruins of the ancient Koneswaram temple in Trincomalee. He lived in Sri Lanka until his death. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 and was awarded Sri Lanka's highest civil honour, Sri Lankabhimanya, in 2005.
Later on he was host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World.