Science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke died at 1:30am Wednesday morning in Sri Lanka. The prolific author won several Hugo and Nebula awards for his numerous books, which included both fiction and non-fiction, many of them promoting the future of space travel and exploration. His most famous titles include Childhood’s End, Rendezvous with Rama, and of course 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The last of these was an outgrowth of the 1968 film that Clarke co-wrote with producer-director Stanley Kubrick, inspired by Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel.” The novel was written in conjunction with the screenplay, which formed the basis for the most monumental and important science-fiction film in the history of the genre. Clarke went on to write several sequels, including 2010, 2061, and 3001: The Final Odyssey. The first of these was adapted into a movie by writer-director Peter Hyams.
You can read a more detailed obituary, written by Ravi Nessman, here.