Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008

'The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.'

Best known for co-writing the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, novelist Clarke combined scientific training with poetic whimsy. His ideas were often prophetic — he predicted telecommunications satellites years before the first went into orbit — and always hopeful. Space exploration offered a peaceful outlet for man's restlessness, he said.

—Eben Harrell

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