Sir Arthur Charles Clarke CBE FRAS (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.

Clarke was a science fiction writer, a strong supporter of space travel, and a well-known futurist. He wrote many books and essays for popular magazines. In 1961, he received the Kalinga Prize, a UNESCO award for promoting science. His science and science fiction writings earned him the nickname "Prophet of the Space Age." His science fiction works, in particular, won several Hugo and Nebula awards. These awards, along with a large audience, made him one of the most important figures in the science fiction genre. For many years, science fiction had a group of three famous writers, including Clarke and American writers Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is widely considered one of the most influential films in history.

Clarke supported space travel throughout his life. In 1934, as a teenager, he joined the British Interplanetary Society (BIS). In 1945, he suggested a satellite communication system using orbits that stay above the same spot on Earth. He was chairman of the BIS from 1946 to 1947 and again from 1951 to 1953.

Clarke moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1956 to explore scuba diving. That year, he discovered the underwater ruins of the ancient Koneswaram Temple in Trincomalee. In the 1980s, he became more well-known as the host of TV shows such as Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World. He lived in Sri Lanka until his death.

Clarke was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1989 "for services to British cultural interests in Sri Lanka." He was knighted in 1998 and received Sri Lanka's highest civil honor, Sri Lankabhimanya, in 2005.

Biography

Arthur C. Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England, and grew up in Bishops Lydeard, a nearby town. As a boy, he lived on a farm where he enjoyed looking at the stars, collecting fossils, and reading American science fiction magazines. He attended Huish's Grammar School in Taunton for his secondary education. His early interests included dinosaur cigarette cards, which sparked his love for fossils around 1925. Clarke said his interest in science fiction began with three things: the November 1928 issue of Amazing Stories in 1929, the book Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon in 1930, and The Conquest of Space by David Lasser in 1931.

In his teens, Clarke joined the Junior Astronomical Association and wrote articles for Urania, the group's journal. At his request, the editor, Marion Eadie, added an "Astronautics" section to the journal, which included Clarke's writings about spacecraft and space travel. He also wrote for the "Debates and Discussions Corner," which discussed arguments for and against space travel, and shared his thoughts about the Walt Disney film Fantasia. In 1936, Clarke moved to London and worked as a pensions auditor for the Board of Education. He lived with other science fiction writers in a flat on Gray's Inn Road, where he earned the nickname "Ego" because he focused deeply on topics he found interesting. He later called his office, filled with memorabilia, his "ego chamber."

During World War II, from 1941 to 1946, Clarke worked as a radar specialist in the Royal Air Force. He helped develop early-warning radar systems that supported the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. Clarke worked on ground-controlled approach (GCA) radar, a system described in his only non-science fiction novel, Glide Path. Although GCA was not widely used during the war, it later proved important during the Berlin Airlift in 1948–1949. Clarke started as a soldier and became a corporal instructor in radar at No. 2 Radio School, RAF Yatesbury. He was promoted to pilot officer in 1943, then to flying officer, and later became a chief training instructor at RAF Honiley. He was discharged from the military with the rank of flight lieutenant.

After the war, Clarke earned a first-class degree in mathematics and physics from King's College London. He later worked as an assistant editor at Physics Abstracts. He served as president of the British Interplanetary Society from 1946 to 1947 and again from 1951 to 1953.

Although Clarke did not invent the idea of geostationary satellites, he proposed that they could be used as telecommunications relays. He shared this idea in a paper in 1945, and it was published in Wireless World that same year. Clarke also wrote several nonfiction books about space travel, including Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics (1950), The Exploration of Space (1951), and The Promise of Space (1968). Because of his contributions, the orbit 36,000 kilometers above Earth's equator is officially called the Clarke Orbit by the International Astronomical Union.

In 1951, Clarke's book The Exploration of Space helped rocket scientist Wernher von Braun convince President John F. Kennedy that a Moon mission was possible.

After the 1968 release of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke became a well-known commentator on science and technology, especially during the Apollo space program. On July 20, 1969, he appeared on CBS News to comment on the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

From 1956 until his death in 2008, Clarke lived in Sri Lanka. He first stayed in Unawatuna on the south coast, then moved to Colombo. He and his friend Mike Wilson traveled around Sri Lanka, diving with the Beachcombers Club. In 1957, Clarke discovered underwater ruins of a temple near Trincomalee, which he wrote about in his book The Reefs of Taprobane. He later set up a small dive school and shop near Trincomalee. He often dived at Hikkaduwa, Trincomalee, and Nilaveli.

The Sri Lankan government gave Clarke resident guest status in 1975. When science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein visited, the Sri Lanka Air Force provided a helicopter to tour the country. In the early 1970s, Clarke signed a three-book publishing deal, a record for a science fiction writer at the time. The first book, Rendezvous with Rama (1973), won major awards and led to later works that became central to his career.

In 1986, Clarke was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. In 1988, he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, which he had contracted in 1962, and used a wheelchair for most of his life after that. He supported the British Polio Fellowship for many years.

In 1989, Clarke was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to British cultural interests in Sri Lanka." That same year, he became the first chancellor of the International Space University, serving until 2004. He also served as chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka from 1979 to 2002.

In 1994, Clarke appeared in the science fiction film Without Warning, where he played himself. He also worked to protect gorillas and supported the Gorilla Organization, which fights to preserve gorilla habitats. When mining for mobile phones threatened gorillas in 2001, Clarke helped raise awareness about the issue. The dive shop he started in Trincomalee continues to operate through the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Clarke hosted television programs such as Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World and Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers.

In 1953, Clarke met and married Marilyn Mayfield, a 22-year-old American woman with a young son. They separated after six months, though their divorce was finalized in 1964. Clarke said their marriage was incompatible from the start. Marilyn never remarried and died in 1991.

Science fiction writer

Arthur C. Clarke began publishing stories in fanzines, which are amateur science fiction magazines, between 1937 and 1945. His first professional story, titled "Loophole," appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in April 1946. Another story, "Rescue Party," was published in May 1946 and marked his first professional sale. Before focusing fully on writing in 1951, Clarke briefly worked as an assistant editor for Science Abstracts in 1949.

Clarke gained recognition as a "scientific" science fiction writer with his first novel, Against the Fall of Night, which was published as a novella (a short novel) in 1948. The story was widely read and praised for its original ideas. Clarke later expanded it into a full-length novel, published in 1953. He revised it again in 1956 to create The City and the Stars, a book that became a key work in the science fiction field. His third novel, Childhood's End, published in 1953, further increased his popularity. In 1961, Clarke released his sixth novel, A Fall of Moondust, which is now considered a classic of its time.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Clarke corresponded with C. S. Lewis, a famous author, and they met in an Oxford pub called the Eastgate to discuss science fiction and space travel. Clarke later praised Lewis’s The Ransom Trilogy, calling it one of the few science fiction works that should be considered literature.

In 1948, Clarke wrote a short story titled "The Sentinel" for a BBC competition. Though it was not accepted, the story influenced his later work and became the basis for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. This story introduced themes of advanced alien intelligence, which became common in Clarke’s later books. For example, in Childhood's End and the 2001 series, humans encounter superior alien beings, leading to major changes in human evolution. These themes also appear in The City and the Stars and its earlier version, Against the Fall of Night.

In his biography, Neil McAleer noted that many readers and critics still consider Childhood's End Clarke’s best novel. However, Clarke did not use ESP (extrasensory perception) in his later works. He explained that while he was interested in ESP, he grew skeptical because debates about its existence continued without clear answers. He believed telepathy (mind-reading) might be real.

A collection of Clarke’s early essays, titled The View from Serendip (1977), also included a short story, "When the Twerms Came." He wrote other stories under the names E. G. O'Brien and Charles Willis. Most of his short stories are compiled in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001).

For much of the 20th century, Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein were known as the "Big Three" of science fiction. Clarke and Heinlein began writing to each other after Clarke’s book The Exploration of Space was published in 1951. They met in person the following year and remained friends for many years.

Clarke and Asimov first met in New York City in 1953. They often exchanged playful insults and jokes. They agreed to an oral pact, the "Clarke–Asimov Treaty," stating that if asked who was better, Clarke would be called the better science fiction writer and Asimov the better science writer. In 1972, Clarke wrote this agreement into his dedication for the book Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations.

In 1984, Clarke testified before Congress against the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Later, at the home of writer Larry Niven, Heinlein criticized Clarke’s views on U.S. foreign and space policy, especially regarding SDI. Though they eventually reconciled, they remained distant until Heinlein’s death in 1988.

Clarke’s most famous work, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was expanded into the Space Odyssey series. In 1982, he wrote a sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two, which became a film in 1984. Two more sequels, 2061: Odyssey Three (1987) and 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997), were published but not made into films.

In 2061: Odyssey Three, a spaceship visits Halley’s Comet and crashes on Europa, a moon of Jupiter. The story reveals the fate of astronaut Dave Bowman, the artificial intelligence HAL 9000, and the development of life on Europa, protected by alien monoliths.

In 3001: The Final Odyssey, astronaut Frank Poole’s frozen body, found beyond Neptune, is revived by advanced medical technology. The book explores the dangers posed by alien monoliths, which sometimes act in ways their creators did not intend.

Clarke’s first film project was 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick and Clarke met in 1964 to discuss a film based on Clarke’s story "The Sentinel." Initially, Clarke planned to write the screenplay, but Kubrick suggested writing a novel first to guide the film. The novel was published after the film’s release.

Due to the film’s demanding production schedule, Clarke and Kubrick faced challenges in collaborating. Clarke completed a draft of the novel in 1964, planning to publish it in 1965 before the film’s 1966 release. However, the film was released in 1968 before the book was finished. The novel was credited to Clarke alone, though he later expressed frustration that the film’s success overshadowed his role as the author.

In 1972, Clarke published The Lost Worlds of 2001, which included details about the film’s production and alternate versions of key scenes. A special edition of the novel A Space Odyssey (1999) includes Clarke’s introduction about the film and book’s creation.

In 1982, Clarke continued the 2001 story with 2010: Odyssey Two, which was also made into a film.

Science writer

Arthur C. Clarke wrote many nonfiction books that include essays, speeches, and other writings. Some of his books are made up of chapters that can be read as individual essays.

Clarke was known for explaining the idea of space travel to the public. In 1950, he wrote Interplanetary Flight, a book that explained the basics of space travel for people without special training. Later books about space travel included The Exploration of Space (1951), The Challenge of the Spaceship (1959), Voices from the Sky (1965), The Promise of Space (1968, revised in 1970), and Report on Planet Three (1972), among others.

His books about space travel often included chapters about other scientific topics, such as computers and bioengineering. He predicted the use of telecommunication satellites, which would be maintained by astronauts in space suits who would replace parts that failed.

His predictions led to a series of magazine essays starting in 1958. These essays were later published as a book called Profiles of the Future in 1962. The book includes a timeline of inventions and ideas up to the year 2100, such as a "global library" for 2005. It also includes "Clarke's First Law" and text that later became known as Clarke's three laws.

In a 1959 essay, Clarke predicted that satellite television would broadcast globally, allowing people to watch hundreds of channels anywhere in the world. He also imagined a small device that people could carry to communicate anywhere on Earth by dialing a number. This device would also help people find their way using global positioning. In Profiles of the Future, he predicted this device would become available in the mid-1980s.

In a 1964 BBC presentation, Clarke described a global computer network similar to today’s World Wide Web. He predicted that by the 21st century, people could access information or perform tasks like surgery remotely using the internet and satellites.

In a 1974 interview, Clarke was asked how computers would change life in the year 2001. He accurately predicted developments like online banking and shopping. He also said that by 2001, people would have a device in their homes that could provide information like bank statements and theater tickets, much like a telephone.

A collection of Clarke’s essays and book chapters from 1934 to 1998, including 63 previously unpublished pieces, is found in the book Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! (2000). Another collection of his essays is By Space Possessed (1993). His technical writings, along with autobiographical material, are compiled in Ascent to Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography (1984).

Geostationary communications satellite

Arthur C. Clarke helped make the idea of using geostationary satellites for telecommunications more widely known. He first shared this idea in a letter to the editor of Wireless World in February 1945. He later explained it further in a paper titled Extra-Terrestrial Relays – Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?, which was published in Wireless World in October 1945. The geostationary orbit is sometimes called the Clarke orbit or Clarke belt to honor him.

It is unclear if Clarke’s article directly inspired the development of modern telecommunications satellites. John R. Pierce, from Bell Labs, who worked on the Echo and Telstar satellite projects, gave a talk on the topic in 1954 (published in 1955). He used ideas that were already being discussed, but he did not know about Clarke’s article at the time. In an interview before his death, Clarke was asked if he ever thought communications satellites would become so important. He replied, “I’m often asked why I didn’t try to patent the idea of a communications satellite. My answer is always, ‘A patent is really a licence to be sued.’”

Although Clarke’s idea of using satellites for telecommunications was unique, the concept of using geostationary satellites for communication had been described earlier. For example, Hermann Oberth wrote about geostationary satellites in his 1923 book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space). Herman Potočnik, writing under the name Hermann Noordung, described using satellites for radio communication in his 1928 book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums (The Problem of Space Travel), in sections titled Providing for Long Distance Communications and Safety and Observing and Researching the Earth’s Surface (published in Berlin). Clarke acknowledged these earlier ideas in his book Profiles of the Future.

Undersea explorer

Clarke loved scuba diving and was part of the Underwater Explorers Club. In addition to writing, Clarke started several businesses related to diving with his business partner, Mike Wilson. In 1956, while scuba diving, Wilson and Clarke found broken buildings, statues, and images from the sunken Koneswaram temple. These included carved columns with flower designs and stones shaped like elephant heads. They also discovered bronze items from the original temple, which were described in Clarke's 1957 book, The Reefs of Taprobane.

In 1961, while filming near Great Basses Reef, Wilson found a shipwreck and retrieved silver coins. Plans to dive on the wreck the next year were stopped when Clarke became paralyzed. Doctors later found that he had polio. A year later, Clarke watched the salvage work from the shore. The ship, later identified as belonging to Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, had silver coins, cannon, and other items. These were carefully recorded and became the basis for Clarke's book, The Treasure of the Great Reef.

Living in Sri Lanka and learning its history inspired the setting for his novel, The Fountains of Paradise, where he wrote about a space elevator. He believed this would make rockets unnecessary for reaching space and thought it would be his most important scientific achievement, even more than geostationary satellites. In 2008, he told IEEE Spectrum, "maybe in a generation or so, the space elevator will be seen as equally important as geostationary satellites, which were my most important technological contribution."

Views

Themes of religion and spirituality appear in much of Clarke's writing. He said: "Any path to knowledge is a path to God – or Reality, whichever word one prefers to use." He described himself as "fascinated by the concept of God." J. B. S. Haldane, near the end of his life, suggested in a personal letter to Clarke that Clarke should receive a prize in theology for being one of the few people to write anything new on the subject, and went on to say that if Clarke's writings had not contained multiple contradictory theological views, he might have been a menace. When he entered the Royal Air Force, Clarke insisted that his dog tags be marked "pantheist" rather than the default, Church of England, and in a 1991 essay entitled "Credo," described himself as a logical positivist from the age of 10. In 2000, Clarke told the Sri Lankan newspaper, The Island, "I don't believe in God or an afterlife," and he identified himself as an atheist. He was honoured as a Humanist Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism. He has also described himself as a "crypto-Buddhist," insisting Buddhism is not a religion. He displayed little interest about religion early in his life, for example, only discovering a few months after marrying that his wife had strong Presbyterian beliefs.

Later in his life, Clarke began to hold a more hostile view of religion. A famous quotation of Clarke's is often cited: "One of the great tragedies of mankind is that morality has been hijacked by religion." He was quoted in Popular Science in 2004 as saying of religion: "Most malevolent and persistent of all mind viruses. We should get rid of it as quick as we can." In a three-day "dialogue on man and his world" with Alan Watts, Clarke said he was biased against religion and could not forgive religions for what he perceived as their inability to prevent atrocities and wars over time. In his introduction to the penultimate episode of Mysterious World, entitled "Strange Skies," Clarke said, "I sometimes think that the universe is a machine designed for the perpetual astonishment of astronomers," reflecting the dialogue of the episode, in which he stated this concept more broadly, referring to "mankind." Near the very end of that same episode, the last segment of which covered the Star of Bethlehem, he said his favourite theory was that it might be a pulsar. Given that pulsars were discovered in the interval between his writing the short story, "The Star" (1955), and making Mysterious World (1980), and given the more recent discovery of pulsar PSR B1913+16, he said: "How romantic, if even now, we can hear the dying voice of a star, which heralded the Christian era."

Despite his atheism, themes of deism are a common feature within Clarke's work. Clarke left written instructions for a funeral: "Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral."

Regarding freedom of information, Clarke believed, "In the struggle for freedom of information, technology, not politics, will be the ultimate decider." Clarke also wrote, "It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars." Clarke opposed claims of sovereignty over space, stating, "There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum." Clarke was an anti-capitalist, stating that he did not fear automation because, "the goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. That's why we have to destroy the present politico-economic system."

Regarding human jobs being replaced by robots, Clarke said: "Any teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be!" Clarke supported the use of renewable energy, saying: "I would like to see us kick our current addiction to oil, and adopt clean energy sources … Climate change has now added a new sense of urgency. Our civilisation depends on energy, but we can't allow oil and coal to slowly bake our planet."

About intelligent life and the Fermi paradox, Clarke stated:

Early in his career, Clarke had a fascination with the paranormal and said it was part of the inspiration for his novel Childhood's End. Citing the numerous promising paranormal claims that were later shown to be fraudulent, Clarke described his earlier openness to the paranormal having turned to being "an almost total sceptic" by the time of his 1992 biography. Similarly, in the prologue to the 1990 Del Rey edition of Childhood's End, he writes: "after … researching my Mysterious World and Strange Powers programmes, I am an almost total skeptic. I have seen far too many claims dissolve into thin air, far too many demonstrations exposed as fakes. It has been a long, and sometimes embarrassing, learning process." During interviews, both in 1993 and 2004–2005, he stated that he did not believe in reincarnation, saying there was no mechanism to make it possible, though "I'm always paraphrasing J. B. S. Haldane: 'The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine.' " He described the idea of reincarnation as fascinating, but favoured a finite existence.

Clarke was known for hosting several television series investigating the unusual: Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (1980), Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Power (1985), and Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe (1994). Topics examined ranged from ancient, man-made artefacts with obscure origins (e.g., the Nazca lines or Stonehenge), to cryptids (purported animals unknown to science), or obsolete scientific theories that came to have alternate explanations (e.g., Martian canals).

In Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, he describes three kinds of "mysteries":

• Mysteries of the First Kind: Something that was once utterly baffling but is now completely understood, e.g., a rainbow.
• Mysteries of the Second Kind: Something that is currently not fully understood and can be in the future.
• Myst

Themes, style, and influences

Arthur C. Clarke's writing often shows a positive view of science helping humans explore space and the Earth's oceans. His stories frequently imagine a perfect future with advanced technology, strong ecosystems, and well-organized societies, reflecting his personal beliefs. His early stories usually showed how new scientific discoveries or technological advances could lead to improvements or address issues in his own time.

A common idea in Clarke's work is the belief that intelligent life might eventually evolve to a level similar to gods. This idea appears in his 1953 novel Childhood's End and is briefly mentioned in Imperial Earth. Clarke's thinking about this theme was influenced by Olaf Stapledon, who wrote several books exploring similar ideas. Clarke once said that Stapledon's 1930 book Last and First Men had a major impact on him, calling it and its 1937 follow-up Star Maker two of Stapledon's most important works.

Clarke was a fan of Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany and stayed in contact with him until Dunsany's death in 1957. He called Dunsany "one of the greatest writers of the century." He also mentioned H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs as people who influenced his writing.

Awards, honours, and other recognition

In 1963, Clarke received the Stuart Ballantine Medal from the Franklin Institute for his idea about satellite communications, along with other awards. He also received more than a dozen annual literary awards for specific science fiction works.

• In 1952, Clarke won the International Fantasy Award's Non-Fiction category for The Exploration of Space.
• In 1956, Clarke received a Hugo Award for his short story, "The Star."
• In 1961, Clarke won the UNESCO–Kalinga Prize for promoting science.
• In 1963, Clarke received the Stuart Ballantine Medal.
• In 1969, Clarke shared an Academy Award nomination with Stanley Kubrick for 2001: A Space Odyssey in the Best Writing category.
• The Apollo 13 spacecraft's Command Module was named "Odyssey" in honor of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• In 1973, Clarke won the Nebula Award for his novella, A Meeting with Medusa.
• In 1973, Clarke won the Nebula Award, and in 1974, he won both the Hugo Award and the Jupiter Award for his novel, Rendezvous with Rama.
• In 1979, Clarke won the Nebula Award, and in 1980, he won the Hugo Award for his novel, The Fountains of Paradise.
• In 1982, Clarke received the Marconi Prize for innovation in space communications and remote sensing.
• In 1985, the Science Fiction Writers of America named Clarke its 7th SFWA Grand Master.
• In 1986, Clarke was elected to the American National Academy of Engineering for his work on geosynchronous communications satellites and other contributions to space science.
• In 1988, the University of Bath awarded Clarke an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.
• In 1988–1989, readers of Interzone voted Clarke the second-best science fiction author of all time.
• In 1989, Clarke received a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), and in 2000, he was knighted. Due to his health, he could not travel to London to receive the knighthood, so the UK's High Commissioner in Sri Lanka honored him in Colombo.
• In 1994, law professor Glenn Reynolds nominated Clarke for the Nobel Peace Prize.
• In 1997, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted Clarke as one of its first members, along with Andre Norton, A. E. van Vogt, and Jack Williamson.
• In 2000, Clarke was named a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.
• The Mars Odyssey orbiter, launched in 2001, was named in honor of Clarke's work.
• In 2003, Clarke received the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology. He appeared via a 3-D hologram with friends including Jill Tarter, Neil Armstrong, and Freeman Dyson.
• In 2004, Clarke won the Heinlein Award for outstanding science fiction writing.
• In 2005, Sri Lanka awarded Clarke its highest civilian honor, the Sri Lankabhimanya (The Pride of Sri Lanka), for his contributions to science and technology.
• Clarke served as Honorary Board Chair of the Institute for Cooperation in Space and on the Board of Governors of the American National Space Society.

• The Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction writing is given annually in the UK. In 1986, Clarke funded the prize with £1,000. In 2001, the prize amount was raised to match the year, such as £2005 in 2005.

• In 2005, the inaugural Sir Arthur Clarke Award was created to honor achievements in space, called the "Space Oscars." Clarke's brother attended the ceremony and presented a special award to the British Interplanetary Society.

• The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation gives two awards: the "Arthur C. Clarke Innovator's Award" and the "Arthur C. Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award."

• In Sri Lanka, the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Trophy Inter School Astronomy Quiz Competition is held yearly by the Astronomical Association of Ananda College, Colombo. The competition was renamed after Clarke's death.

• The Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society recognizes contributions to society through science fiction.

• An asteroid, numbered 4923, was named "Clarke" in his honor. The name was chosen after the number 2001, which was already assigned to Albert Einstein.
• A dinosaur species, Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei, was named after Clarke. The genus name may reference Sri Lanka, one of its former names, "Serendib."
• The Learning Resource Centre at Richard Huish College, Taunton, was named after Clarke.
• Clarke was a vice-president of the H. G. Wells Society, influenced by Wells as a science fiction writer.
• The Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies in Sri Lanka is named after him.
• The main character in the Dead Space video game series, Isaac Clarke, shares his name with Arthur C. Clarke and his first name with Isaac Asimov.
• An expressway in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is named the Arthur C. Clarke Expressway.
• A gamma-ray burst, GRB 080319B, detected hours before Clarke's death, was proposed to be called "The Clarke Event."
• A mountain on Pluto's moon, Charon, named Clarke Montes, honors Clarke.

Selected works

• Against the Fall of Night (1948, 1953) – this is the original version of The City and the Stars
• Prelude to Space (1951)
• The Sands of Mars (1951)
• Islands in the Sky (1952)
• Childhood's End (1953)
• Earthlight (1955)
• The City and the Stars (1956)
• The Deep Range (1957)
• A Fall of Moondust (1961)
• Dolphin Island: A Story of the People of the Sea (1963)
• Glide Path (1963)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – created with the film version by Stanley Kubrick
• Rendezvous with Rama (1973)
• Imperial Earth (1975)
• The Fountains of Paradise (1979)
• 2010: Odyssey Two (1982)
• The Songs of Distant Earth (1986)
• 2061: Odyssey Three (1987)
• Cradle (1988) – written with Gentry Lee
• The Ghost from the Grand Banks (1990)
• The Hammer of God (1993)
• Richter 10 (1996) – written with Mike McQuay
• 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)
• The Trigger (1999) – written with Michael P. Kube-McDowell
• The Light of Other Days (2000) – written with Stephen Baxter
• The Last Theorem (2008) – written with Frederik Pohl

• Travel by Wire! (1937)
• How We Went to Mars (1938)
• The Awakening (1942)
• Loophole (1946)
• Technical Error (1950)
• Expedition to Earth (1953)
• Reach for Tomorrow (1956)
• Tales from the White Hart (1957)
• The Other Side of the Sky (1958)
• Tales of Ten Worlds (1962)
• The Nine Billion Names of God (1967)
• Of Time and Stars (1972)
• The Wind from the Sun (1972)
• The Best of Arthur C. Clarke (1973)
• The Sentinel (1983)
• Tales From Planet Earth (1990)
• More Than One Universe (1991)
• The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

• Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics (1950) – London: Temple Press, ISBN 0-425-06448-4
• The Exploration of Space (1951) – New York: Harper & Brothers
• The Exploration of the Moon (1954) – written with R. A. Smith, New York: Harper Brothers
• The Coast of Coral (1955) – London: Frederick Muller
• Boy Beneath the Sea (1958) – New York: Harper, ISBN 0060212667
• Voice Across the Sea (1958) – New York: Harper
• Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible (1962) – New York: Harper & Row
• The Treasure of the Great Reef (1964) – written with Mike Wilson, New York: Harper & Row
• Man and Space (1964) – Life Science Library, New York: Time Life
• Voices from the Sky: Previews of the Coming Space Age (1965) – New York: Harper & Row
• The Promise of Space (1968) – New York: Harper & Row
• Mars and the Mind of Man (1971) – New York: Harper & Row, ISBN 978-0-06-010443-6
• Report on Planet Three And Other Speculations (1972) – New York: Berkley, ISBN 0-425-07592-3
• The View from Serendip (1977) – New York: Random House, ISBN 0-394-41796-8
• 1984: Spring / A Choice of Futures (1984) – collected non-fiction writings, New York: Del Rey / Ballantine, ISBN 0-345-31357-7
• Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Autobiography (1989) – London: Gollancz, ISBN 0-575-04446-2
• How the World Was One: Beyond the Global Village (1992) – London: Gollancz, ISBN 0-575-05226-0
• Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds! : Collected Essays, 1934–1998 (1999) – New York: St. Martin's Press, and London: Voyager

Media appearances

• The City in the Image of Man: Ideas and Work of Paolo Soleri (1972)
• 2010: The Odyssey Continues (1984)
• The Day of Five Billion (1987)
• Without Warning (1994)
• Fractals: The Colors of Infinity (1995), a documentary with narration
• Future Fantastic (BBC, 1996)
• Arthur C. Clarke: The Man Who Saw the Future (1997)
• Odyssey of Survival (1999)
• 2001: HAL's Legacy (2001)
• Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001)
• To Mars by A-Bomb: The Secret History of Project Orion (BBC, 2003)
• The Martians and Us (2006)
• Planetary Defense (2007)
• Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001 (2007)