Sri Lanka Honors Arthur C. Clarke

Students, space enthusiasts, politicians and Buddhist monks paid respects Friday to the late science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.

Clarke died Wednesday at age 90 after suffering breathing problems. His remains were put on display for public viewing at his home in Colombo, the capital of his adopted country Sri Lanka.

"He fascinated a lot of us into being interested in space and astronomy," said Kavan Ratnatunga, a Sri Lankan-born astronomer and long-time associate of the author.

Clarke won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future. He also founded the Astronomical Society of Ceylon in 1959, inspiring many youngsters by screening films of space mission launches, Ratnatunga said. Sri Lanka used to be known as Ceylon.

"He made us all proud by being with us, I became his fan by reading the '2001: A Space Odyssey' given to me by a friend," said Udana Marasinghe, a Colombo high school student who went to pay his respects Friday.

Born in western England on Dec. 16, 1917, Clarke earlier worked as a clerk and served in the Royal Air Force during World War 11 before moving to Sri Lanka in 1956.

Clarke's 1968 story "2001: A Space Odyssey" — written simultaneously as a novel and screenplay with director Stanley Kubrick — was a prophecy of artificial intelligence run amok.

Clarke was to be buried Saturday at Colombo's general cemetery in a plot owned by his friend and business partner with whom the writer lived for decades.

Source: AFP