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A Short Obit On Arthur C. Clarke
from the rip dept
A bunch of people have been submitting the news that famed writer Arthur C. Clarke has passed away at the age of 90. You've probably already read about it elsewhere, so I debated whether or not it was worth posting it here as well. However, he clearly had a large impact on the technology world, and there was one interesting note in his NYTimes obit that seems to fit with what we often talk about here. While it's widely known that he's credited with the idea of the geostationary satellite, in later life, Clarke admitted that a lawyer convinced him not to patent the idea, saying that the concept of geostationary communications satellites was "too far-fetched to be taken seriously." While he later joked about how he probably lost billions on that decision, the truth is that in not patenting the concept and simply publishing the idea, it's quite likely that he did much more to speed along the concept from idea to reality. Even he admits that there was nothing "new" in what he described, it was just that he helped publicize the concept and make people realize it was feasible -- and for that we should be thankful.
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A.C. Clarke
I lost one my childhood heros today. In his honor I propose renaming satellite dishes and satellite antennae Clarke Stations.
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Clarke
Definitely a big loss in the tech / sci-fi community, and really, the world. Sad, but he WAS 90, and he lived a long full life. We should all be so lucky...except the bad and evil people out there.
On a side note, I used to love his "Mysterious Universe" tv show, even though it was easily 20 years old when I'd watch it, and that was at least ten years ago.
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He Was Smart, He Was Old
I shed no tear for the passing of a pederast who fled the USA to avoid a sex scandal that included young boys.
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my favorite scifi movie: 2001 Odyssey
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Re: He Was Smart, He Was Old
...he was born and raised in the UK, then moved to Sri Lanka in 1956, and lived there until he died...
And the "sex scandal" was a random accusation by a single UK newspaper when he was knighted, that was shot down by both UK and Sri Lankan police.
...I just got trolled. I'm bad at this.
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Arther C Clarke
Brought pleasure to milions through his books a described many concepts not just the satalites also the space stations robotics sad yes but 90 is a good age.
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Re: He Was Smart, He Was Old
Did he have a West Country accent, then?
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If the writers of Star trek patented all their original ideas, I think they would be billionaires by now...or science and technology would have ground to a stop.
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Death of a Sexist
Mr. Clarke was from that older generation of SF writers who portrayed women as cattle, or took cliches from non-Western cultures and made it into the "future". Hence we have 2001: Space Odyssey centering around Mecca's rock of Kaaba... I mean, "the monolith".
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About the geosync orbit
It was ironic that Clarke later testified in the trial where Hughes tried to patent geosync orbits when they put up the first one.
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Re: Death of a Sexist
Didn't mommy ever teach you that if you can't say something nice...don't say anything doofus...I mean dorpus.
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Re: A.C. Clarke
Ever hear of the Clark Arc? That is the arc of satelites in orbit that bring us tv and cable. The old 8 foot systems.
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He will be missed...
I was a great fan of Clarke's work, and unlike other sci-fi authors he didn't go steeply downhill in his later works. He will be missed.
It's a bit of an exaggeration to say "he probably lost billions" in not patenting the idea of geostationary satellites, though (and the post does say that he only said that jokingly). Clarke did popularize the idea of geostationary communications satellites, but he did not originate it - the concept had been published by several others around twenty years earlier than his 1945 article. He wouldn't have been able to patent it because of this prior publication.
Even if he had obtained a patent, if he had filed his patent application before his 1945 publication (as UK patent law requires), it would have valid for twenty years from the date of filing. So, it would have expired in 1965, at most a year after the first successful test of a geostationary satellite in November 1964, and decades before they became commercially successful. Of course, a UK patent wouldn't have affected the US launch of Syncom 3, but even if he'd filed for a US patent at the same time, it would have been in effect for 17 years from its issue date, and assuming a two-year pendency, it would have expired before Syncom 3 was launched.
So, pioneer in widely publicizing communications satellites - yes. Great author - very much yes. "But for..." billionaire - no.
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Thanks for posting this here. This was the first I had heard of his demise.
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Re: Death of a Sexist
Many of his more famous works were written in the conservative dominated 50s. The period was dominated by a sense that women were not leadership material or that their place was in the home. Clark rose above this in many of his works. He depicted women in positions of power and authority.
"2001: a Space Odyssey" and "2010: The year We Make Contact" both had women with jobs that at the time those books were written women were not expected to have. In 2001 a woman was a high ranking member of an intelligence agency aboard a space station and in 2010 a woman was the commanding officer aboard the Russian space craft that carried them to the location of the Discovery.
He was wrong in his predictions of how far women would go in the 50 years following his books but there is no indication that it was because he was sexists. Quite the contrary in fact.
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Another technology
AFAIK he also was the first person to describe keyword-based news alerts (in The Fountains of Paradise), which someone out there probably does claim to have patented.
Geez, both him and Gary Gygax, two weeks apart. This is not shaping up to be a terrific month.
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Re: He Was Smart, He Was Old
You're quite a spectacular moron.
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RIP
Arthur's last words were, "My God, it's full of stars..."
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Re: He will be missed...
He wouldn't have been able to patent it because of this prior publication.
Dude, it's apparent you're new to Techdirt. Any long-time reader here would know that prior art seems to be no deterrent to people filing (and getting) patents in USA!
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