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Back to Episodes7166: Arthur C. Clarke — Prophet of the Space Age Who Saw the Future First | pplpod
Episode 7166
Published 5 days, 9 hours ago
Description
Arthur C. Clarke predicted geostationary communications satellites in 1945, two decades before one existed. The boy from Somerset who mapped the moon through a homemade telescope became the twentieth century’s most accurate technological prophet and co-creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This episode follows Clarke from wartime RAF radar work to his move to Sri Lanka, his complicated personal life, and the paradox of a futurist who chose to live far from the civilization he championed.
- He proposed the geostationary satellite orbit in 1945, now called the Clarke Orbit
- He co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick
- He moved to Sri Lanka in 1956 and lived there for the rest of his life
- He was knighted in 2000 but received the honor in Colombo because he could no longer travel