Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) was a British futurist, scientist and author of science fiction. Along with Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein, he was for many years considered one of the "Big Three" in science fiction. Clarke received the Grand Master Award in 1986. Clarke's short story, The Sentinel was the basis for one the most influential science fiction films of all time, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Arthur C. Clarke was born on Dec. 16, 1917, in the small town of Minehead in Somerset, the eldest of four children. He was interested in both real and fictional science from an early age