Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

Today, let us take time to remember Arthur C Clarke: author, educator, inventor of the communications satellite. Today, Muammar Gaddafi is running for his life and his sons are under arrest, because of Arthur C Clarke. Today, not one dictator anywhere in the world can be confident he will die in his bed, because of Arthur C Clarke. Today would be much darker if Arthur had never lived.

Under the terms of the Clarke-Asimov Treaty we are supposed to refer to Clarke as the second greatest writer on science while accepting that he is the greatest author of science fiction. Clarke and Asimov were both wrong about this, and they both knew it. Asimov always had the more fertile imagination for fiction and Clarke's work on the communications satellite marks him out as one of the towering inventors of our age.

It started as a dream. Clarke – a dedicated scuba diver in his later years – wanted to go to space. It was that simple. He wanted humanity to spread across the solar system and beyond. While working as a radar technician he puzzled on that most practical of questions: who would pay for space exploration? It occurred to him that satellites positioned in geostationary orbit – orbiting every 24 hours, and thus fixed over one point on the equator – would enable global communications. He calculated the height of a stable geostationary orbit – still sometimes called a 'Clarke orbit'. Instead of trying to design a working model, patent it, and make his fortuned, he rushed to publish his ideas in a peer-reviewed paper "Extra-terrestrial relays" published in 'Wireless World' in 1945. His aim was not his own fortune, but to convince telecommunications companies that they could make a fortune by investing in the dream of space travel.

Because of those satellites, governments no longer control the flow of information. Governments can no longer keep people in isolation and ignorance. The days of the dictator are drawing to a close. 

If Muammar Gaddafi is cursing his enemies, he should spare a moment to think about one of the greatest educators on the concepts of science who ever lived. As a boy, Clarke looked at the night sky, and dreamed. He never stopped dreaming. Because of him, millions have lived to see their dreams come true.

I can't complete this article without mentioning that in 1998 Clarke was accused of child abuse. Obviously, I have no knowledge of whether there was any substance to these allegations. If true, this would be terrible. But even then, it would not undermine the euphoria of today. Libya is free today, because of Arthur C Clarke. And that makes today a beautiful day.