The world has lost a visionary and a genius, and will be a poorer place without him.

Bye Bye ACC. Will we see you next as a Starchild, perhaps?

And he 'lost' billions because a friend told him it would be a waste of time to patent the idea of satellites

*sigh*

Too much death this year- but I heard he finished another book right before he died...

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198505 Wrote:
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> And he 'lost' billions because a friend told him
> it would be a waste of time to patent the idea of
> satellites

I suspect it would have been: the Moon was already up and running........ (wasn't it geostationary satellites that was his idea? - would that have been patentable?)

Not a clue, I just read the thing about him in the Times on Friday, not that I normally buy the Times, I got it for the thing about BBC buying the Grand Prix again

Agreed.

Bye Arthur. Hopefully the Buddhists are correct and when you come back you will be on a higher level and can continue the words without any problems.

Wonders who is more likely: Starchild or Karellan?

Anyway, I can reread all of ACC's earlier works with enjoyment even though I have been reading things like Tales From The White Hart for about 50 years..... and Childhood's End and City and the Stars are timeless, even if dated by the events of the last fifty years.


RIP

Arthur C Clarke

Maker of our times for the children of the Future.

Another thought:


Reading Anne McCaffrey (The Shop that Searched) last night she referred to a ship being put into a 'geosynchronous' orbit around some distant planet. Since 'geo' refers to Earth I have always detested this term when used for another planet.

As far as I know there is no generic term for an orbit which matches the rotation period of a planet, so, inspired by Clarke's original concept of geostationary satellites for communications back in 1947 I propose that any orbit that matches the rotation period of the body being orbited be referred to as a


'Clarke orbit'.



This would be the greatest tribute to the man, and if adopted would end clumsy terminology and, with some luck, carry his name down through the centuries.


Do you agree?

And, if so, can we spread the word so that it gets adopted in sf and then in the unreal world of the mundane?

You're not the only one who had that idea...

Quote:

Clarke's work, which led to the global satellite systems in use today, brought him numerous honors including the 1982 Marconi International Fellowship, a gold medal of the Franklin Institute, the Vikram Sarabhai Professorship of the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, the Lindbergh Award and a Fellowship of King's College, London. Today, the geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometers above the equator is named The Clarke Orbit by the International Astronomical Union.

[www.clarkefoundation.org]

Getting it into general use is another matter altogether. I've definately seen it used somewhere - but not in anything recent, I don't think.

Google results:
"Clarke orbit" 8340 hits
"geosynchronous orbit" 172,000 hits
"Geostationary orbit" 158,000 hits

Rob

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That statement is either so deep it would take a lifetime to fully comprehend every particle of its meaning, or it is a load of absolute tosh. Which is it, I wonder?
Terry Pratchett, Hogfather



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2008 09:55PM by robcraine.

Ok. But if it's a very small satellite can it be a Ronniec Orbit?

shower that man in gold!!!!!

ewwwwwwwwe.

Wow. Missed this.

I love his stuff. Childhood's End and Pebble in the Sky were the two books that got me hooked on SF. Dune was the first, but those two cemented the love of it.

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Martin,

I keep forgetting how new to the world you are.

I was born the year 'Prelude to Space' was published and I still think it is one of the most integrated stories in sf.

I have all Clarke's works up to 3001, and I think it must be me for the sense of excitement has gone that was in the earlier books. Such is the romance of technology.
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**Edited, again because of dyslexic fingers***



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2008 02:34AM by bunyip.