He was appointed chief training instructor at RAF Honiley and was demobilized with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He was promoted Flying Officer on November 27, 1943. He was commissioned as a Pilot Officer (Technical Branch) on May 27, 1943. Clarke initially served in the ranks, and was a Corporal instructor on radar at No 9 Radio School, RAF Yatesbury. Although GCA did not see much practical use in the war, it proved vital to the Berlin Airlift of 1948–1949 after several years of development. Clarke spent most of his wartime service working on Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) radar as documented in the semi-autobiographical Glide Path, his only non- Science Fiction novel. ĭuring the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist in the early warning radar defense system, which contributed to the RAF's success during the Battle of Britain. After secondary school and studying at Huish's Grammar School, Taunton, he was unable to afford a university education but instead took a job as an auditor in the pensions section of the Board of Education. As a boy he enjoyed stargazing and reading old American science fiction pulp magazines. He emigrated to Sri Lanka in 1956 largely to pursue his interest in scuba diving, and lived there until his death.Ĭlarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England. Ĭlarke professed little interest in religious questions, but considered himself an atheist. He won the UNESCO-Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science in 1961. Later, he helped fight for the preservation of lowland gorillas. Ĭlarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician from 1941-1946, proposed satellite communication systems in 1945 which won him the Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Gold Medal in 1963 and a nomination in 1994 for a Nobel Prize, and 1999 for literature, and became the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 1947-1950 and again in 1953. Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, Sri Lankabhimanya (December 16, 1917–March 19, 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, written in collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, a collaboration which led also to the film of the same name and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World.

Wells, Jules Verne, Lord Dunsany, Olaf Stapledon Clarke at his home office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 28, 2005

Prelude to Space by Arthur C. Clarke