Tragically, the great science fiction writer and trained scientist Arthur C. Clarke passed away in his adopted home in Sri Lanka at the age of 90. Best known for his short story printed in 1948, The Sentinel became the basis for what is arguably the greatest sci-fi film of all time – “2001: A Space Odyssey”. True to his fiction, Clarke marked his ‘90^th orbit of the sun’ with three very interesting (and science based) wishes – for E.T. to call, for man to stop using oil for fuel and finally for peace in his adopted home of Sri Lanka. Born in England, Clarke joined the RAF as a radar specialist.

It was his prediction that man would reach the moon in 2000 that served as a stepping-stone for NASA to really get us there. It was something that, at the time, people looked upon as a patently ridiculous idea.

Clarke was a member of what became known as the ‘Big Three’ science fiction writers, a very exclusive club comprising of Robert A. Heinlein (‘Starship Troopers’), Isaac Asimov (‘I, Robot’) and Clarke. The themes by these three literary giants (now all sadly deceased) included humanity, consciousness, evolution and, naturally, course technology.

We can only hope that some of Clarke’s theories (much like his previous ones) become true. That means we’ll soon be space tourists and travelling to galaxies beyond our imagination. For this level of vision and forward thinking we salute you.