Date Released: Thursday, December 13, 2007
Source: Astronomical Association of Sri Lanka

Fellow Earthlings,

Sixty two years ago Arthur C. Clarke of the British Interplanetary Society sent a letter to the editor titled Peacetime Uses for V2 which was published in the 1945 February issue of the Wireless World magazine suggesting the use of Geostationary Satellites for the instant global communications. Quoting,

"I would like to close by mentioning a possibility of the more remote future--perhaps half a century ahead.

An ``artificial satellite'' at the correct distance from the earth would make one revolution every 24 hours; i.e., it would remain stationary above the same spot and would be within optical range of nearly half the earth's surface. Three repeater stations, 120 degrees apart in the correct orbit, could give television and microwave coverage to the entire planet."

Today, the Clarke Orbit has over 330 satellites. Sir Arthur C. Clarke, a science-fiction author, inventor, and futurist, simply a great mind celebrates his 90th birth anniversary on 16th of December, 2007.

In 1959, he founded the Ceylon Astronomical Association (now known as Sri Lanka Astronomical Association). As the current General Secretary of the Association, I'm honored to run an association founded by him. And as a big fan of his writings and admirer of his work, I have put up a blog where every one could wish him for his 90th birth day.

If you are a friend, colleague, fan or simply an earthling who admires work of Sir Arthur Clarke, please write your greetings and good wishes on the blog.

Please forward this message around and publish in your website/ magazine/ paper/blog etc... if possible.

Let us wish together a healthy and a long life for Sir Arthur.

Post your greetings and wishes on
http://sirarthurcclarke90.blogspot.com/
and check Sir Arthur's birthday video message at http://thilinaheenatigala.blogspot.com

Regards,

Thilina Heenatigala
General Secretary
Sri Lanka Astronomical Association



Text of video address (running time: 9 mins 3 secs) Recoded on 5 December 2007

Hello! This is Arthur Clarke, speaking to you from my home in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

As I approach my 90th birthday, my friends are asking how it feels like, to have completed 90 orbits around the Sun.

Well, I actually don't feel a day older than 89!

Of course, some things remind me that I have indeed qualified as a senior citizen. As Bob Hope once said: "You know you're getting old, when the candles cost more than the cake!"

I'm now perfectly happy to step aside and watch how things evolve. But there's also a sad side to living so long: most of my contemporaries and old friends have already departed. However, they have left behind many fond memories, for me to recall.

I now spend a good part of my day dreaming of times past, present and future. As I try to survive on 15 hours' sleep a day, I have plenty of time to enjoy vivid dreams. Being completely wheel-chaired doesn't stop my mind from roaming the universe - on the contrary!

In my time I've been very fortunate to see many of my dreams come true! Growing up in the 1920s and 1930s, I never expected to see so much happen in the span of a few decades. We 'space cadets' of the British Interplanetary Society spent all our spare time discussing space travel - but we didn't imagine that it lay in our own near future...

I still can't quite believe that we've just marked the 50th anniversary of the Space Age! We've accomplished a great deal in that time, but the 'Golden Age of Space' is only just beginning. After half a century of government-sponsored efforts, we are now witnessing the emergence of commercial space flight. Over the next 50 years, thousands of people will travel to Earth orbit - and then, to the Moon and beyond. Space travel - and space tourism - will one day become almost as commonplace as flying to exotic destinations on our own planet.

Things are also changing rapidly in many other areas of science and technology. To give just one example, the world's mobile phone coverage recently passed 50 per cent -- or 3.3 billion subscriptions. This was achieved in just a little over a quarter century since the first cellular network was set up. The mobile phone has revolutionized human communications, and is turning humanity into an endlessly chattering global family!

What does this mean for us as a species?

Communication technologies are necessary, but not sufficient, for us humans to get along with each other. This is why we still have many disputes and conflicts in the world. Technology tools help us to gather and disseminate information, but we also need qualities like tolerance and compassion to achieve greater understanding between peoples and nations.

I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. So I hope we've learnt something from the most barbaric century in history - the 20th. I would like to see us overcome our tribal divisions and begin to think and act as if we were one family. That would be real globalisation...

As I complete 90 orbits, I have no regrets and no more personal ambitions. But if I may be allowed just three wishes, they would be these.

Firstly, I would like to see some evidence of extra-terrestrial life. I have always believed that we are not alone in the universe. But we are still waiting for ETs to call us - or give us some kind of a sign. We have no way of guessing when this might happen - I hope sooner rather than later!

Secondly, I would like to see us kick our current addiction to oil, and adopt clean energy sources. For over a decade, I've been monitoring various new energy experiments, but they have yet to produce commercial scale results. Climate change has now added a new sense of urgency. Our civilisation depends on energy, but we can't allow oil and coal to slowly bake our planet...

The third wish is one closer to home. I've been living in Sri Lanka for 50 years - and half that time, I've been a sad witness to the bitter conflict that divides my adopted country. I dearly wish to see lasting peace established in Sri Lanka as soon as possible. But I'm aware that peace cannot just be wished -- it requires a great deal of hard work, courage and persistence.

* * * * *

I'm sometimes asked how I would like to be remembered. I've had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer, space promoter and science populariser. Of all these, I want to be remembered most as a writer - one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well.

I find that another English writer -- who, coincidentally, also spent most of his life in the East -- has expressed it very well. So let me end with these words of Rudyard Kipling:

If I have given you delight
by aught that I have done.
Let me lie quiet in that night
which shall be yours anon;

And for the little, little span
the dead are borne in mind,
seek not to question other than,
the books I leave behind.

This is Arthur Clarke, saying Thank You and Goodbye from Colombo!

Makes me feel sad, as it very strongly suggests Clarke is not long for this world. I never liked his writing, but have always thought he is a great person and great science advocate.

__________________
Fiction has to be plausible. Reality is under no such constraint.

Clear skies, Sir Arthur.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Sir Arthur C Clarke was, and is, a great author. His Science Fiction writing is some of the very best. Of his writings I have read:
The Sands of Mars (1951)
Islands in the Sky (1952)
Childhood's End (1953)
Earthlight (1955)
A Fall of Moondust (1961)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Rendezvous with Rama (1972)
The Fountains of Paradise (1979)
2010: Odyssey Two (1982)
2061: Odyssey Three (1988)
Rama II (1989) (with Gentry Lee)
Prelude to Mars (1965) (including Prelude to Space and The Sands of Mars)
Expedition to Earth (1953)
Reach for Tomorrow (1956)
Tales from the White Hart (1957)
Of Time and Stars (1972)
The Sentinel (1983)

And a lot of his other works. He is not only a great author, but he is also a great visionary. Considering the technology of his time, he imagined things that have come to pass, long before others even realized the possibilities.

And may I also say, that his effect upon my life, and my thinking, has been profound. Second only to Isaac Asimov, his writings have been instrumental in shaping my view of the Universe. I hope he sees his 100th birthday.

__________________
Reality: What a concept!……………………..><Ç(((Ç°>

I agree 100%. Asimov and Clarke were both major influences in my life. I would also add Carl Sagan as one who helped me to think and see the Universe more clearly. I' ve read many of those books you list. I consider the Rama Series second only to the Foundation Series, as the best Sci-Fi series written by anyone. I am happy that he got a chance to see some of the great scientific advances made in the last 50 years. A truly great man.

He made a great point about commercialization of space travel--we went to the moon and then stopped. If it becomes profitable, the companies will not stop. That ultimately might be the route to the stars, then. Buy stock in Harriman Industries!

__________________
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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info

A life well lived, Sir Arthur.

I think you are confusing Clarke and Heinlein. Harriman was a character in Heinlein's "The Man Who Sold The Moon" and "Requiem". AFAIK, Clarke never particularly advocated commercialization of space travel.

__________________
Fiction has to be plausible. Reality is under no such constraint.

Yes, I don't recall Clarke pushing commercial space to any degree. I read and liked nearly everything Clarke wrote up through Imperial Earth. After that, I read some of his recent books, but not all, and consider them weaker than his earlier material. That's especially true of the collaborations (for instance, I read one of the Rama sequels and decided I didn't need to read any more).

But, Clarke definitely is one of the Golden Age Science Fiction writers.

__________________
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

Then you must have read A Fall of Moondust, which is about commercial space tourism.

Happy birthday, Sir Arthur!
Clear skies and big viz!

__________________
I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek

No, it was about a disaster on the moon. That's like saying 2001 was about space tourism because of the Pan Am spaceliner.

__________________
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

It's not directly about space tourism but the accident takes place on a commerical space tourism operation. there are also spacecraft for charter in the book.

Commercialisation of space is taken for granted in most of is books, and even discussed in passing, although it is rarely the major theme.

The Sands of Mars is also in passing about the first passenger liner to service Mars, and the difficulties of making a Mars settlement pay its way.

Fountains of Paradise looks at the commerical transformation possible by space elevators.

Imperial Earth looks at how solar system economoies would be revolutionised by propellant mining.

Rendezvous with Rama speculates how Mercury might become the economic powerhouse of the solar system, thanks to abundanrt heavy metals and abundant energy.

Earthlight looks at a how metal shortages slow development of the solar system and how discover of lunar ores leads to war.

And of course Clarke pioneered thinking about the revolution that would be brought about by COMSATs.

Jon

yeah--I realize Harriman is a Heinlein fictional company. I couldn't think of any Clarke fictional companies. On the other hand, I guess I read "commercialization of space" into "space tourism", and space tourism can be a government activity. Still, I suspect space tourism will ultimately be commercial more than government, and THAT would be what drives future space expeditions.

__________________
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Todd (Bowie, MD, US, North America, Earth, Sol System, Vega region, Local Bubble, Orion arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Group, Virgo A Cluster, Virgo supercluster, the universe in which spock is clean shaven)

Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

personal page: http://blog.astrosketches.info