Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke was a British science and science fiction writer, futurist and undersea explorer who is widely credited as the first to propose the concept of geostationary communications satellites. In a 1945 paper titled 'Extra-Terrestrial Relays' published in Wireless World, he described how three equally spaced satellites in a geostationary orbit could provide global radio and television coverage, a concept realized in practice within two decades and now the basis of a multi-billion-dollar satellite communications industry; the geostationary orbit is sometimes called the Clarke Orbit in his honor. Beyond this specific proposal he was among the twentieth century's most influential popularizers of spaceflight and space science, co-writing the screenplay for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey with director Stanley Kubrick and authoring numerous novels and nonfiction works that shaped public understanding of orbital mechanics, artificial satellites and space exploration. He served as chairman of the British Interplanetary Society and later chancellor of the International Space University, and was knighted in 1998 for his services to literature.