Sixty-two years ago Arthur C. Clarke of the British Interplanetary Society sent a letter to the editor titled Peacetime Uses for V2 which was published in the 1945 February issue of the Wireless World magazine suggesting the use of Geostationary Satellites for the instant global communications. Quoting,
“I would like to close by mentioning a possibility of the more remote future--perhaps half a century ahead. An ``artificial satellite'' at the correct distance from the earth would make one revolution every 24 hours; i.e., it would remain stationary above the same spot and would be within optical range of nearly half the earth's surface. Three repeater stations, 120 degrees apart in the correct orbit, could give television and microwave coverage to the entire planet.”
Today, the Clarke Orbit has over 330 satellites. Sir Arthur C. Clarke, a science-fiction author, inventor, and futurist, simply a great mind celebrates his 90th birth anniversary on 16th of December, 2007.
And as a big fan of his writing and admirer of his work, I have put up a blog where everyone could send him wishes for his 90th birthday. If you are a friend, colleague, fan or simply an earthling who admires the work of Sir Arthur Clarke, please write your greetings and good wishes on the blog as a comment.
Let us wish together for a healthy and a long life for Sir Arthur.
Please be sure to leave your name and country end of your message.
Regards,
Thilina Heenatigala
General Secretary
Sri Lanka Astronomical Association
http://aalk.lakdiva.net
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543 comments:
1 – 200 of 543 Newer› Newest»Please post all your best wishes and greetings as a comment.
Happy birthday from Maui, you ole fart! I remember a lecture at Caltech where you hit on my little girlfriend from Goa, Hyacinth... big smiles to you! You are always a delight, even when you are grumpy and cross. Now its time to find a real life extension elixir. My 100 year old daddy also sends along his best wishes.
Alooooha
Jerry Palmer w6cwj@earthlink.net
Sir Arthur's influence on the world of science and technology goes far beyond what is stereotypically regarded as his contribution. Yes, he showed us how a global communications industry could be created and maintained. Yes, he showed us that it was possible -- and practical -- for human to visit other worlds in our solar system. And, yes, he demonstrated that someday it would be necessary for us to farm the oceans effectively to feed a growing human population. But his personal encouragement and inspiration -- to scientists, thinkers and students -- also have been remarkably and vitally influential over the course of his nine decades on this planet. We have good reason to celebrate one of our most avid and optimistic "cheerleaders of the mind." His 90th birthday is a grand reason to put Sir Arthur on the not-too-crowded pedestal he shares with other pioneers of grand thought and grander achievement.
"John" is John C. Sherwood at jcs@mysteryvisits.com. He maintains a Clarke fan page at MysteryVisits.com, more easily seen at http://tinyurl.com/pazt2
Happy Birthday sir Arthur, you have no idea what effect you had on a young English lad growing up without Science Fiction, up until the point that I picked up an old copy of 2001.
Never been the same since!
Happy birthday Sir Arthur. I wish you many years to write more science fiction books and full of happyness. You are my favorite writer, because your books transmit an optimist view of future. Thanks for 2001, Childhood´s end, Rendevouz with rama, fountains of the paradise, Songs from a distant earth and so on...
Best wishes from Lima, Peru
Raul Del Rosario
rdelros@pucp.edu.pe
Arthur, Wishing you a wonderful birthday! In the late 60’s I first discovered “Expedition to Earth” from my great aunt’s
book collection. From that point on, I began to enjoy books in general and read your work specifically. Even now, I’m re-enjoying “The City and The Stars” on my I-pod. How times and technology have changed! “The City and the Stars” is -and probably will be- my favorite work of all authors.
Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful stories. I’m patiently waiting for “The Last Theorem”.
Perhaps one day I will take my chances with you at Ping Pong.:)
Michael
Denver, CO
Dear Sir Arthur,
Happy birthday from Tennessee, United States.
In your introduction to the 1968 edition of THE LION OF COMARRE & AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT (the first book of yours I ever read), you wrote, "...the two stories have much in common...in each case, the hero is a young man dissatisfied with his environment. There are many such today, with good reason. To them I dedicate these words, written before they were born." I can't begin to express what a profound effect that dedication, and the two stories that followed, have had on my life. You showed me that true wonder and beauty exists in science, and in rational thought, and sometimes even in humanity.
I often lapse into depression when I think of the various stupidities and atrocities that have been (and continue to be) committed by our species, but your work is like a beacon in that fog. The poetry of your words inspire me, and your cautious optimism compels me to believe that we might make it through after all.
Thank you.
Only 90, eh? You got at least another 20 or so to go. That's books not years! LOL. Happy Birthday to the Master of Science Fiction (IMHO). You have helped me become excited about Man's future in space and His shortcomings on Earth.
Much love,
Roger
http://arthurcclarke.net
A very Happy Birthday indeed Sir Arthur. You very kindly corresponded briefly with me in November 2002 concerning RAF days (my father's not mine). I wish you all the very best for your 90th birthday on 16th. May there be many more to come! With good wishes, Prof. John K. Webb, Sydney, Australia.
Happy Birthday Arthur!
Joel Schlosberg
NYC, New York, USA
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur - I've been a fan of your work ever since my parents took me to see 2001 in Cinerama when I was 13 years old. I bought paperback copies of your short story works and read Prelude to Space, Chilhoods End Rendezvous with Rama, 2010, etc. I've enjoyed the appearances that you've maed on TV all the way back to those you made with Walter Cronkite during the Apollo Lunar missions.
Have an out of this world Birthday.
Mike Potter Bernalillo, NM
Best wishes to you as you enter your tenth decade on Planet Earth!
ْSir Arthur C Clarke has influenced the human society in many ways. by his great ideas in his books, and by his knowledge as a scientist. 2001 odyssey was the first book i read. i remember that, i was only 8 years old and i found the book in my uncel's library. and although i didn't understand much, i knew it was something great, and years after that, i read the book over and over again, till i get the idea.
now i am a big fan of sir arthur.
me and my friends run a website about science-fiction and fantasy literature. we have several articles about sir arthur.
well,
HAPPY YOUR BIRTHDAY. WISH YOU ALL THE BEST.
somayeh from Tehran-Iran
Here's to another ten turns around the sun.
You're awesome!
Have a great birthday.
John J. Pierce* here!
I can still remember you visiting us one night in 1952 or thereabouts, and signing THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE.
The SFRA has a game called "Which Science Fiction Writer Are You?" Members answer various questions about their values and attitudes and... I came out as YOU (My wife came out as Isaac Asimov.).
Just got an academic friend to read THE CITY AND THE STARS. She loved it. It's always been an iconic work for me, since I first got a copy for Christmas in 1956 and read it while Stravinsky's FIREBIRD was playing on the stereo. I still associate the too.
You have brightened my life, and I shall always be grateful for that.
--J.J.
* Brantley's just a pseudonym I use for a website.
Happy Birthday
Sir Arthur C. Clarke,
I am a long time fan and will one day own all of your fiction books. I am a dreamer and your dreams and visions of the future have helped shape mine. You have touched and filled my life with a greater purpose. Someday I hope to invent something that will benefit all of mankind. I have yet to discover the thought or idea to do this, but it doesn't mean that I will not keep believing in the dream. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for you influence and dreams. My only hope is that you will continue to touch and fill other people’s dreams and ideas forever.
Sincerely!
Nick Meyers
P.S. I am writing you from Boise, Idaho
Sir Arthur, Happy birthday to you from midtown Manhattan!!! Your work is out of this world; I LOVE it.
With warm birthday wishes,
Marleen S. Barr
Happy Birthday Arthur from the Kennedy Space Center area. I first discovered you through "The Promise of Space." Why don't you publish a 40th anniversary edition of this in 2008? Maybe you can co-write the update with Ray Bradbury?
Happy birthday, Sir Star Child! You are one of the greatest writers and thinkers of our time. I will continue to read and teach and contemplate your work with great pleasure. All the best from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
It,s not only your birthday uncle Arthur...Every beat in your chest is an incident in Sci-fi...
Wish u a best
Alireza
Iran,Tehran
Great that this opportunity has been created to wish you a happy birthday from Wellington, New Zealand. You have made a huge, inspirational contribution to so many across the planet - in time they will be reading your works on Mars and beyond. Reflect on your life with satisfaction, and keep going! With best wishes, Trevor Anders
Happy birthday from America's Heartland! I send these birthday wishes to you from just outside of Chicago, Illinois in the USA.
I have been a fan of your writing for over 40 years and I think I can honestly say I've read everything you've written, both fiction and non-fiction. It's hard to pick favorites, but if I had to, it would be one of your earlier works, The Sands of Mars, and one later on, Childhood's End.
But it was your Fountains of Paradise which got me interested in the concept of the Space Elevator, something I'm now trying to advance with my Space Elevator Blog (http://www.spaceelevatorblog.com). I've written multiple posts on my blog about you and what we all owe you and have a countdown to your 90th birthday also.
I wish you a very happy birthday, Sir Arthur, and I send you heartfelt thanks from someone who admires what you've done and enjoys what you've written...
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur!!
I adore "Fountains of Paradise" and "Songs of the distant Earth" (If I remember their name in English well!).
Wish you a longer life and more great ideas!
Happy Birthday!
Tehran - Iran
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur!
I really love your books and I believe they light the world of sci-fi!
we all know you as both father and master of this great world.
wish you the best.
Mashhad-Iran
Sir Arthur:
We love you at Adventure Books of Seattle. Our famous 'AB Slideshow' features you and some of your work. Everyone here wishes you a very happy 90th birthday!
Sincerely,
Robert M Blevins
Geoff Nelder
Christine Cartwright
Andrew Thomas
Gayla the Bookkeeper
and
'Ginger' the Office Cat
On a side note, we publish hard science fiction almost exclusively, and do a popular sci-fi magazine called 'Escape Velocity'.
Sir Arthur,
Best wishes and many happy returns on your birthday. I have enjoyed your writing for (now) more than 40years.
Jeff Dible
United States
Best wishes on your birthday, Sir.
You have done a great service to the human mind.
Be well.
Greetings and Happy Birthday to one outstanding carbon-based biped. Sir Arthur, thank you so much for your immeasurable positive influence on myself and our entire species.
Bob Collins
Seaford, NY, USA
Dear Sir Arthur,
Wishing you the happiest of birthdays!
From a fan of your authorial and predictive genius...
FJ
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
I have always admired your contributions to science as well as to literature, good Sir Clarke, and I wish you many more years on this Earth.
James Stein
NY, USA.
Happy birthday and thank you for many, many, many hours of entertainment and wonder.
Corey
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Happy birthday!
And thank you for all the wonderful stories. I've been enjoying them from the time I learned to read to this day. They are among those things which inspired my love for the wonders of science. So again, thank you, and have a very happy birthday.
Ted Dahlberg
Uppsala, Sweden
Happy birthday from Portland Oregon. Thanks for Against the Fall of Night and everything that has come since then.
happy birthday sir arthur.
να τα χιλιοστήσεις!
may you live to be 1000!
祝你活到1000人!
from a mind you helped shape, currently in beijing.
Happy Birthday!
Thanks for all the thought-provoking entertainment!
From Centereach, Long Island, New York, United States, North America, Earth, Sol, Milky Way.
Sir Arthur,
allow me congratulate you on your 90st birthday give my best wishes for your health and well-being.
I have been an avid reader of science fiction since my childhood and your works were among the most memorable I have read.
Your influence as an author of fiction and as a scientist and and thinker who always looked towards the future and the possibilities it holds for humanity, are contributions that you should rightfully feel proud of.
We all owe you an immense debt of gratitude for your life's work.
Kind regards,
Florian Widder
Austria
Happy birthday and profound thanks for all you have contributed to this pale blue dot.
Northumberland, England
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur! I am grateful because your works inspired so many to push space programs forward. Yours was the voice we needed at the opportune time.
Here is a tribute I wrote to you from my blog a few weeks back.
Oh, and while you are in Sri Lanka, give my best to Dr. Heywood Floyd.
Tangled Up in Blue Guy
A very happy brithday to you, Sir Arthur. Your fiction has given me many hours of pleasure and you're ideas have changed all our lives. I hope you have a wonderful birthday.
Happy birthday!
Joe
Baltimore, MD
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur!
Copies of your books are among my oldest possessions and like dear friends re-visited (or met) with pleasure every few years.
Thank you for the wonder and entertainment, but most of all for showing that a great imagination can use, but need not be restrained by, science and reason.
Mike
Sheffield, United Kingdom
Happy Birthday!!
Alejandro
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Happy birthday! Here's to another 90 years of you being awesome. "The Star" is still one of my very favorite stories.
Paul
Los Angeles
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur! I have been a science fiction fan since reading "Islands in the Sky" in the sixth grade (in the 50's).
Chris - Philadelphia PA
Happy Birthday! Thank you so much for all the joy and true thought you have brought into the world.
Enjoy!
CHRIS
Very best wishes Sir Arthur, for your 90th. Your fiction eventually inspired me to attempt my own. You are the only SF author whose complete works I sought out - that was back in the seventies - and The City and the Stars remains my favourite SF novel of all time.
Many happy returns!
Paul S. Jenkins
PORTSMOUTH, UK
Hi Arthur, Happy Birthday from another fan. I haven't read many of your books, but I still remember being impressed by The City And The Stars when I read it some 35 years ago. God certainly gave you some talent. I've heard you don't believe in him yet, but he believes in you.
God Bless!
Ross
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur!
Josh, United States.
Happy birthday Sir Arthur! As I sit here with my roomba, cellphone, and wireless computer, I keep wonder if the future you made possible isn't here after all.
Thanks for many years of fascinating, stimulating reading. Many happy future sun orbits.
Phil Newton (English, livng in Germany)
Happy 90th Birthday Sir Arthur!
When I was a teenager over 30 years ago your novels both delighted and inspired me. Since then, your books have continued to do the same. I can honestly say that I wouldn't be the person I am today without your influence. Thank you!
Steve Norley.
Born and bred in Bristol, England but now a scientist (thanks again) living near Berlin, Germany.
Happy birthday Mr Clarke, may your odyssey continue far into the future.
Happy and Healthy Birthday. And thanks for writing.
Rich, NYC, USA
You inspired me as a lonely child; I would hide in the science fiction section of the school library.
Congrats form Buenos Aires! "2001" literally changed my life at the age of 12 leading me to explore creative ventures and ultimately becoming successful writer and filmmaker.
Salud!
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur. Thanks for everything you've written and thought about over the decades, and for giving us the ideas to build some of those things that are indistinguishable from magic.
- Derek K. Miller
penmachine.com
Vancouver, Canada
Happy birthday and greetings from Finland!
Olli Markkanen
Helsinki, Finland.
Happy 90th birthday, Sir Clarke. You have been a joy to me since I was a small boy, both in your fiction and nonfiction writings. I dearly remember you teaching me the workings of the subatomic world, much more clearly than anything else I have ever read. Though I still have trouble telling baryons and leptons apart, anytime I read something about physics I think back to your words.
Thank you for your work, Arthur.
Tab Atkins Jr.
USA
Felicitations on the anniversary of your natal day! I've been reading your work since A Fall of Moondust and never stopped.
Cheers!
Zeno
California
USA
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur! Thanks for all your past and future contributions to science fact and fiction! (and many more!)
Phillip Ginder
California, USA
Phillip.Ginder@gmail.com
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur!
Happy Birthday, Mr Clarke! From an extreme newbie (first SF story published last week!) to a grand master, I salute you and wish you many birthdays to come. Your work helped make me what I am today, and I am grateful.
Eliza
Washington, DC
Happy birthday, Mr. Clarke!
Have so been stimulated by & benefitted from your work.
Thank you, & keep on thinking about life & enjoying it!
Lin Westler
United States
My Dad loved your books Sir, Arthur, and passed that love on to me. The tradition of science fiction owes a great deal to you, not to mention science itself! Happy Birthday!
Blair
Dunedin, New Zealand
A very happy birthday to Sir Arthur, whose work has been a part of my life as long as I can remember. You were the first real science fiction author I ever read, and yours were the stories that inspired and unsettled me the most.
My dad's break into the film industry was through working as a cameraman on Stanley Kubrick's film version of 2001. Without you, without the story that film was based on, chances are I'd never have been born.
No author has been as influential for me (in so many ways) as you have. May your long life continue even longer, and may your genius never falter.
Grace Gould Loftus
London (currently at Bristol Uni)
Dear Sir Arthur,
Happy Birthday! We all hope to see many more from you. You've had a profound influence on my life, from the visions of space travel to the visions of myself in Childhood's End and 2001. Because of you I'm at NASA hunting for planets and have a truly cosmic perspective. One of the great highlights of my wonderful life is your kind letter admiring my fractal video artwork. Thank you, Thank you.
Steve Bryson
Arthur,
May you live long enough to be an embarrassment to your biographer.
Alan Kellogg@m
United States
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur,
Your writing reached me in the remote locale of rural Ohio and helped me to strive to make some sort of difference in the world, of which I am still working on. You've tickled my synapses and given me hope. I hope you're 90th is wonderful.
Best Wishes,
Lance Pickens
Happy birthday and thank you for being you. For about 50 years you have given me wonder about the universe and hope for the future, first with your short stories and then with your novels - especially Childhood's End and The City and the Stars. You have projected sanity
WFS
from a most insane place, Las Vegas.
p.s. I have loved the movies that were made from your works, but the books were always better.
Dear Sir Arthur,
Many happy returns on your 90th birthday. Thank you very much - not just for your contributions in the field, but also (/and especially) for the impressions you made on this Dane when I grew up.
Søren K. Thustrup, Denmark
Thank you
Veljko Kukulj
Zagreb, Croatia
Happy birthday Sir,
May you live to be 120 and write many more books.
By the way, I have read most of your novels, many of them several times. We are honered that you live with us here in Sri Lanka.
ERY BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Very best wishes for a Happy Birthday Arthur.
It is a very long time since we swam the reef together
along with Rodney Jonklaas,Langston Pereira and others of the Ceylon Reefcombers.
Thank you for your great contribution to the literary world.
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur! Your work has inspired me from the time I was a child, towards the the arts, literature and poetry, as much as towards science & the wonder of our world. You are indeed an artist, a scientist, and an inspiration.
And who ever thought you'd outlive Stanley Kubrick...
Geoffrey Alexander, USA
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur, and thank you for many, many hours of amazing reading!
Cynon
You inspire me. And what better way to be able to send my best wishes, This almost "Dial F For Frankenstein" way...
Happy Birthday
Cali, Colombia.
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur. I saw you speak at the University of Tulsa in 1970. What a thrill! Thank you for all your creations. They mean a lot to me.
happy birthday from germany and thanks for
the intersting thoughts you thought.
may the future hold what you wish from it.
Happy birthday from Austria, and thank you for so many hours of pleasure and high flying dreams reading your books.
Thanks and best wishes on your 90th.
Miche, Ireland
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur! I wanted to let you know that your book "Against the Fall of Night" was the very first science fiction book I ever read, at the age of 8, if I recall correctly.
It was the first of many, including many of yours, and to this day (a few decades later), it still carries a sense of wonder for me.
Best Regards on your birthday, and I hope you have many more.
Doug Liberati
United States of America
Happy Birthday!
I'm only 50, but I know my life is better and richer because I read your books as a student.
With much love and respect from Cambridge Massachusetts USA -
Steve R.
Happy Birthday! Thank you so much for sharing your inspirational and life-changing thoughts with the rest of us for all these years. Your short story, "The Other Tiger" just blew me away when I first read it as a young boy. I grew up reading your work, and it has certainly had a positive impact on everything I have done. Thanks for everything!
Oh my God, it's full of birthday candles!
Happy 90th from the Chicago suburbs Arthur. Thanks for all the stories and science.
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur. It was you who got me addicted to SF as a child, when I read one of my fathers old dusty paperbacks; I've been hooked ever since. I've recently been revisiting some of your early work and find it as engrossing as I did when I first read it. Thanks for entertaining me for so many years. Dave
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur, may there be many more happy years.
Mr. Clarke:
Thank you.
For everything.
Happy birthday Sir Arthur. I have read and re-re-re-re-read many of your excellent books, short stories and articles - the 2001/2011/2061/3001 sequence (I tried to write it as x0y1 but it made no sense!) and the Rama sequence influenced my reading habits for 35years. I wish you continued long life and happiness and the express hope that we can get more happy hours of reading new work from you for years to come!
Happy birthday Sir Arthur.
Thank you not just for the entertainment you have provided me, but for all the inspiration you have provided others that I have enjoyed third hand.
-josh
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur; and here's to many more.
Happy Birthday from Germantown, Maryland, USA. I've been an avid collector of your works for at least the past fifteen years(I'm only 23, just so we're clear on this), and I've got copies of some of your books that are easily twice my age. Hell, I even have Man and Space, the book you wrote for Time/Life back in the 60's!
Your work is timeless, and there will likely never again be another author I regard as highly as I do you.
Best birthday wishes to you, Sir Arthur! Your work continues to inspire me every day.
-Michael (Atlanta GA and Washington DC, USA)
To Sir Arthur, hello from Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Happy Birthday and hope you have a good and beautiful day in Sri Lanka. I've been an admirer of yours from afar for many years now, not just for your writing and thoughts but because you are a fan of science-fiction yourself from back in the day, as we say now. You hobknob with astronauts and write books with people who send robots to Mars (Gentry Lee). So yes, I'm a little jealous.
But you also inspire, and I am one of those you have inspired. I self-publish my own sci-fi via publish-on-demand, and the dedication of my second novel reads in part, "Dedicated to the great teachers of my life, Joseph Campbell, George Lucas, Sir Arthur C. Clarke."
So happy birthday, and I hope many happy more.
FIAWOL,
Carol E. Meacham
Chattanooga, TN USA
Many happy returns, from Sandra in Cheshire, UK. My dad introduced me to your books when I was about 10 and I have spent many years enjoying them! Hope you have a lovely day and are thoroughly spoilt!
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur.
Eric P
NJ
Dear Arthur, you have had such a wonderful effect on my brain - so cheers from kentucky.
Wishing Sir Arthur a very happy birthday from the UK!
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur!
My first contact with you was "The Songs from Distant Earth". I was a first years Physics student, and that book really changed my life. If today, I am a scientist working on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Machine Learning, is because of you. Even my PhD thesis has your influence: it is called "Heuristically Accelerated Learning" - HAL algorithms :-)
I wish you many happy returns.
Reinaldo Bianchi
São Paulo, Brazil.
Happy Birthday and Welcome to the Future...
...that you helped describe and create.
Happy Birthday from Avignon in France, Sir Arthur. You are an inspiration. Thankyou for your great works.
Chris Ward
Like many, many people around the world, your work has inspired, entertained and enlightened me. Happy birthday, and may there still be surprises in your life. Cheers!
Unbelievable genius! Your work has changed my life. Thank you for all you have done and happy birthday!
Steve Struhar
Saint Paul, MN USA
You have been one of the best reads along the years. Greetings,
Rodrigo Barrientos, Chile.
Sir Arthur- Many birthday wishes from a young fan in Columbus, OH. And here's to many more future filled years in your...future...
-Harry Smith
Happy Birthday to a true visionary; you are an inspiration to many. While we are surrounded every day in with evidence of humanity's negative impact, it is truly amazing to know of a few, such as Sir Arthur, who continue to make valuable contributions that push the species forward. You make me believe that being human is special and wonderful.
I hope you are with us for many more birthdays in the future.
Shaun,
Trinidad, West Indies
Happy birthday and thank you for many hours of fine reading and the thinking that went with it.
Max
Happy Birthday! Your writing has given me pleasure for the last 40 years I have been reading it.
Jim F.
Arl. Hts, IL USA
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur!
As with many people, I first came across your works through the film 2001. I was just 5 years old, and my parent's tell me that I cried when they shut down HAL. Years later, when it was re-released, I saw it again, and seeing that it was based upon your writing, went down to the library to try and find the novel. Being a frequent patron of the library, I was familiar with the card-catalog system, and immediately looked up your name...and starting with the first name of Arthur...and couldn't find it...so I though, maybe he just generally uses that for books, but is listed by some other first initial or name...and went all the way back to Z in that section. Needless to say, I was getting frustrated, as I figured a writer who has had a film as popular at 2001 would have *some* entry in the card-catalog...then at the very end of the all the names in that section was a card that said "See also Clarke". Yes, I was looking in the "Clark" section...
So, anyways, I ended up working in computers, and just wanted to share that story, hoping you will find it amusing, as sort of a thank you for both the many hours of entertainment your books have given me, and the inspiration that, in part, has led to a career in computers. May your birthday be wonderful and enjoyable!
Thanks,
Farrell J. McGovern
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Hi, Many thanks for starting this blog, giving everyone an opportunity to share their views of Sir Arthur. Please also see Sir Arthur's 90th birthday reflections video on YouTube, posted today at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qLdeEjdbWE
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur!
It's been 30 years since I picked up a copy of "A fall of moondust" from the Singapore National Library, starting my love not just of science fiction but of reading.
But with all the marvels of the universe and all the wonders of technology that your writings have described, it's four words from "Profiles of the Future" that have stayed closest to me - your choice of the four most important things in the universe: beauty and wisdom, laughter and love.
With best wishes
TW
Singapore
Happy Birthday from Virginia, USA. I don't know what I can say, but to add my thanks and best wishes for health and happiness to those already posted. You have definitely changed the world!
Becky Blosser
Winchester, VA USA
You have been an inspiration to me and millions of others. Thank You.
Art Hildebrandt
State of Maine
USA
Best wishes from a brazilian fan of yours, Sir Arthur! Happy Birthday and thanks for the wonderful work you gave us all these years!
Congratulations, Sir Clark! My father was an avid reader of SF and he is to blame for introducing me to the greatest SF writers of his time, including you!
Happy Birthday
Your work was my introduction to science fiction, and recently I bought your Collected Stories so that I could relive the times when I first read them. They are a delight. You are my model as a fiction writer, though I can never attain your greatness. Best wishes on your birthday, and thank you!
Happy 90th birthday, Sir Arthur !
Thanks for all of your books, I have read a lot of them since I was a teenager, many years ago.
Aurelio Martin, from Sevilla (Spain)
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur. I was the Del Rey publicist who worked on 3001, and the afternoon Shelly Shapiro, Chris Schleup and I spent with you at the Chelsea remains a fond memory. I hope that the next decade finds you well and that you continue to enjoy life with an inspiring zest.
Eleanor Lang
eleanor@eleanorlang.com
New York City
Happy Birthday from another fan.
John Qualmann
Norway and USA
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur!
From Paul in Montana, USA
Happy birthday to you! Thanks for all you've done for us. Laura Lee, Fullerton, CA
Happy Birthday!
Geoffrey Lehr
Colorado, United States
Mo from London/Iran:
Have a great day..what a life!!
I knoq just about everyone in the world would want to wish you the best birthday of them all!
Congrats!!
Happy birthday and many thanks from one of the many people that you have inspired.
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur! "Childhood's End" changed my life when I read it at age 13 - and your books and ideas continue to inspire me.
Hope you get the chance to have many more great birthdays,
Blue Delliquanti
(United States, currently residing in Switzerland)
bluedelliquanti.blogspot.com
Best wishes from Argentina!
greets, Augusto
Thank you for the many hours of pleasurable reading and the additional hours of pleasurable thinking about the ideas that the reading invoked/provoked.
Ken C, Michigan, USA
Just wanted to wish Sir Arthur a happy birthday, and to say thanks for all the wonderful books that I've enjoyed over the years. Here's to the next 90 years!
Kirk Friggstad, Canada
You novels are among those that not only delighted me as a child, but that are still delightful reads decades later. Thank you and happy birthday!
Congratulations on your long string of successes! You have richly earned the praise you are now receiving!
When I wanted to expand my children's undersanding of their potential, I chose "Childhood's End" as the tool. You have inspired many, including me and my children, to reach for the stars, and beyond!
Best wishes from Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Duke Winsor
Happy Birthday and many happy returns , Sir Arthur. regards, Colin Clarke, University of British Columbia, Vancouver,B.C., Canada
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur!
Both your fiction and non-fiction found me early in my teens in the 1960s and were one of the key influences in my life and career.
I won't even try to pick a favorite book or story. Too many possible choices.
Thanks for it all!
Jim McGee
Chicago
USA
http://www.mcgeesmusings.net
Happy Birthday and wishes for many more, Sir Arthur. Thank you for all your work which has been a source of wonder and inspiration to me.
Nate, USA
you have been truly inspiring many happy returns for sunday
and thx for your replies
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarchi/7383867/in/set-1691104/
"Joyeux anniversaire!" to a man who blew my mind when I started reading SF in English at the tender age of 12. :-)
Around the 3rd or 4th grade I discovered science fiction. Reading everything I could from the adult section surely helped my vocabulary and gave me a firm start on school which ended with a Ph.D. You have always been at the top of my list of authors. Now, in my 50s, as a psychology professor, I have decided to try writing science fiction as a summer activity. Even if I never get published I thank you for inspiring me to get to to this point.
Happy Birthday from one of your millions of fans, this one in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA!
Wishing you many more!
Rebekah Dekker
Happy 90th birthday, Sir Arthur!
Best wishes for many happy and healthy years ahead.
The library at my school was fortunate to have copies of many of your works, and my childhood was significantly more interesting as a result.
Ari Baronofsky, Boston, MA USA
Sir Arthur:
I began reading Science Fiction in the 1950s. Clarke immediately became a name to look for - it still is.
Thank you and Happy Birthday.
Ken Ofslager
Smithton, Pennsylvania, USA
Happy 90th
Fav ACC book: The Fountains of Paradise
Carrie C
Michigan, USA, Planet Earth
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur! Your writing, thought, and philosophy have made a huge mark on my life. The world is a far better place (and more interesting) for having you in it.
All of my respect and admiration,
Elizabeth Camp
Galveston, Texas
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur!
Stay with us forever!
Felipe
ffridman@gmail.com
Santiago, Chile
Happy, Birthday, Sir Arthur!
There's so much I could say, but I'll just mention that the first time I read Childhoood's End, when I was 13 or 14, it made me cry.
Well done.
Adam
Happy birthday old, smart guy.
You're writing helped to make me who I am today, and for that you should be ashamed... but not very. ;)
Steve
South Bend
Indiana, USA
Happy birthday Sagittarius!
The day after your 90th, I get to celebrate my 50th!
May I kick on this Earth as long as you do!
Bryan Price, Jacksonville, FL USA
Dolphin Island and Islands in the sky....
Not to mention all of your other books!
Much appreciated!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIR ARTHUR.
WE THANK YOU FOR THE WINDOWS WHICH YOU OPEN TO FACTS AND FICTION
LEAVE LONG AND PROSPERUS
DEMETRIOS GEORGALAS
aka THE TRAVELLER
ATHENS , GREECE
Mr. Clarke, you are simply amazing. You included south India in your stories.
Marc,
Tamilnadu.
Happy Birthday from a fan whose eyes you first opened with Childhood's End and continue to do so with every word you wrote.
Your writings provided me with the inspiration to dream what would normally be unimaginable. Thanks.
Dennis Coxe, USA
Happy birthday!
Jo/SisterCoyote
Reno, NV, USA
Mr. Clarke, thank you so much for all your stories. I have too many favourites to list.
Funny, I remember in, I think, the Fountain of Paradise you mentioned a tsunami of 2005 or something like that. I read that in Jan 2005. Imagine my surprise.
I hope Sri Lanka is comfortable.
George.
"Childhoods End" will always be one of my all time favorites and what made me continue to pursue great Science Fiction and Fantasy. You have given joy and a sense of wonder to many. Thank you.
Happy Birthday to one of the rare visionaries.
Marie
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur! As a child, your writing and your TV shows were an inspiration to me. I wish you 90 more years!
Darius
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur! It was a battered collection of your short stories that turned me on to science fiction when I was young. I am quite protective of the 40+ yr old copies of several of your books that I am proud to own...I still may never forgive my cat for chewing the corner off of Tales of Ten Worlds a year ago.
Much love, best wishes, and admiration from the southern United States,
Jen W
Thank you for many years of joyful wonderment with your great visionaries. Your stories encouraged me to believe in better things for mankind.
From Missouri, USA
Thank you for your work.
I will pass my appreciation of your writing on to my daughter.
Happy birthday.
Doug Ross
Virgina, U.S.A.
Thank you for continuing to be a conduit to open minds and entertain them. Science is the key to the future, your works have helped many of us make progress towards it.
Good luck in sprinting for 100, maybe in ten years you can go for 200. :-)
Korac
New Hampshire, US
Happy Birthday.
Best wishes from cold Minnesota, USA. Your books help keep it a little bit warmer!
.
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur! Childhood's End completely rocked my world when it was given to me in high school. Thank you so much!
Anne Bidwell, San Francisco, CA, USA
Happy birthday Sir Arthur, I have loved exploring your worlds!
Sandeep
India
Happy Birthday Sir, have a good one.
Happy 90th, Sir Arthur. From childhood aspirations of being an astronaut to adult career decisions that put me at NASA, I thank you for the many years of inspiration that you and your works have provided me.
To your health!
Jason S.
Rocket City, USA
Happy birthday from Boston, Mr. Clarke. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful contributions, entertaining, scientific, informative and otherwise. The world is a much richer place with you in it.
Miguel
Thanks from all of humanity for sharing your mind with us for all of these years. Happiest of birthdays!
While viewing Sir Arthur as an SF writer is far, far too narrow a view, his books, particularly Childhood's End and Rendezvous with Rama, taught me that SF can also be great literature.
Thank you for a lifelong addiction to and search for quality SF.
What a grand old age! Here's to your ideas living forever!
-Trey Price
-Denton, TX, USA
I first read Reach For Tomorrow when I was 7 years old in 1961, and have been a Science Fiction fan ever since. Thanks for the decades of enjoyment and mental stimulation. Happy Birthday Sir Arthur, and may there be many more.
Gord McDougall
Canada
Thank you for all the literature you have written. They are classics that will be appreciated for a very long time.
Ryan
MI, USA
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur, and all best wishes.
Thank you for the entertainment, the ideas, and the enjoyable education that your work has provided me.
--Michele
The very best wishes to Sir Arthur - thanks a LOT for your work, efforts and phantasy!
Achmed A. W. Khammas
Berlin
Europa ...the moon :-)
Happy Birthday. Let it be known you look not a day over 89. You have had such a profound influence on my life, and I thank you.
-Dave, Canadian
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur! I love your view of science and humanity (and even more after becoming a scientist myself). Timeless!
Best wishes from Hamburg, Germany
Johannes
Happy Birthday from NY!
Happy birthday, and thank you for making me think ever since my discovery of your works in my elementary school library (I am now 53). Your influence (and Mr. Heinlein's) pointed me down the path of science and learning for my lifetime. I have seen, through you and a few others, the power that smart fiction can have over the real future - so I add, thank you for making others think, others who can actually bring your ideas into reality. Please keep inventing our future, after some nice cake.
George Price, Atlanta GA
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur C Clarke. I wish you the best!
George ,
Thessaloniki (Greece)
Thanks for all the great stories and inspiration. As with many other people in the comments, my interest in science and technology was fueled by your stories. Your mind-blowing ideas kept all us nerds off the drugs, too, seeing as we could get our minds expanded by reading Childhood's End or Rendezvous with Rama and so many other great books...
Happy Birthday!
I've been a fan of yours since reading Childhood's End at 15. Rendezvous with Rama is my favorite book, and you will always be my favorite author. Happy birthday, Mr. Clarke!
Dear Sir Arthur,
Happy Birthday.
Repeat 500 times.
Thanks for everything you've done.
Dave Roscoe
Happy Birthday Sir Arthur! Your writings have inspired us, challenged us, and encouraged us to think in new and different ways. Thank you ever so much for your volume of work! I can't wait to send you a birthday greeting for your 1ooth birthday!
Mr Clarke, I've been reading your books since the 3rd grade. Every few years, as I aged, I was blessed with the opportunity to re-read your work, which provided a framework for me to see the myriad ways in which I was developing. Each time, new passages would make sense, new and futuristic ideas of yours would have come to pass, and I could see how much of an affect you had. I'm now 23, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, and mightily impressed. Have a happy birthday, Mr Clarke, and thanks.
-Robert Knicks
Austin, TX, USA
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur.
I sincerely hope you reflect upon this milestone with great fondness and satisfaction.
Let me add my voice chorus of those thanking you for the insight and delight your intelligent and imaginative work has brought over the decades
Best wishes,
Alex Freezer, Australia
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur.
I sincerely hope you reflect upon this milestone with great fondness and satisfaction.
Let me add my voice to the chorus of those thanking you for the insight and delight your intelligent and imaginative work has brought over the decades.
Best wishes,
Alex Freezer, Australia.
Many happy returns from Victoria, Canada!
Happiest birthday wishes on your 90th, Mr. Clarke, and many, many more.
Your stories and vision shaped my life as a child, and continue to inspire me and my own children. Thank you so much.
Jeremy Reid,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Many Glorious Rebirths!!
Sir Arthur C. Clarke was my childhood hero. His influence on me was/is unmistakable. All my best.
-christian
Happy Birthday from a huge fan in Oakville Ontario Canada.
Happy birthday! I will be eternally grateful for you supplying the inspiration for my name.
happy birthday mr clarke! been a long time fan of your novels and i still recommend them to everyone i know who enjoys science fiction.
Ben Colbourn
USA
Happy birthday Mr.Clarke!
Your books are a major inspiration. I especially loved Childhood's End. Please keep yourself well!
Best,
Ursula in
Minnesota, United States, Northern Hemisphere, Earth, etc.
All the best from New Zealand/Aotearoa.
A very happy birthday to you, Sir Arthur!
From New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Congratulations and Happy Natal Anniversary to you from a Fan from the USA. Thanks so much for all the great books and articles, even the ones I've yet not read. I hope your day is wonderful and that you yet have many more in front of you.
Carl Pietrantonio,
Washington State, USA
Happy birthday, Sir Arthur!
Pleasant birthday wishes from a lowly physics graduate student. Eugene, OR USA.
You have influenced many of our lives, even us young'uns!
axxchor7@gmail.com
Sir Arthur,
The Happiest of Birthdays,
with mankind in space daily
and symbols of your brilliance orbiting as we speak we're still trying to live up to your thoughts.
nat
Thank you for all of the great stories. You've helped me believe in the impossible and better appreciate the "magic" all around us.
May you continue to light our way for many years to come!
This must be an amaziong feeling to be able to back at your life and see the accomplishments that you have made. Your decisions have changed the world. So many of us should only be so lucky to have that experience in our life time. Congratulations on the Birthday.
Melissa Ontario, Canada
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