Monday, December 17, 2007

Happy Birthday Arthur C. Clarke!

World famous science fiction write and inventor of the communications satellite Arthur. C. Clarke turned 90 on Sunday. His old television show Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe is part of the reason that I am a scientist. CNN has a little write up on his birthday wishes. Here's hoping they come true.

I also recommend checking out Clarke's list of predictions for the future of science. Some of them are quite fun.

2 comments:

Flavin said...

By "fun" do you mean a bit kooky?

2002 The first commercial device producing clean, safe power by low-temperate nuclear reactions goes on the market, heralding the end of the Fossil Fuel Age.

2003 The motor industry is given five years to replace all fuel-burning engines with the new energy device. ...

2004 First (publicly admitted) human clone.


Hindsight is 20/20, but I don't think I would have said these things six (almost seven) years ago.

Some of these are just from Star Trek.

2040 The "Universal Replicator," based on nanotechnology, is perfected: any object, however complex, can be created - given the necessary raw materials. Diamonds or gourmet meals can, literally, be made from dirt.

Ben said...

(There was a stupid typographical error.)

Yes, by fun I meant strange. I think it's neat to see how people see the future, and it's nice that he hasn't taken down the article as his predictions have not come true. I think the one that surprised me the most was how soon he predicted nuclear powered cars. I don't think there was any reason to think they would have been around a year from when he wrote the article for Reader's Digest.