Arthur C. Clarke has died at his Sri Lankan home, aged 90.
Clarke is best known as the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but his reach stretched beyond Science Fiction. In 1945 he accurately predicted the use of Satellites as a communications tool, and later joined Walter Cronkite in covering the Apollo space launches.
Clarke was knighted in 2000 and the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter was named in his honor.
Although too old to be involved online in his later years, his visionary works inspired a generation to develop much of the tech we use today.
Clarke’s Wikipedia entry can be read here.
(via AP)