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Sri Lankabhimanya Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917–19 March 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, written in collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick. This collaboration also produced the film of the same name. Clark also was a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World.
From 1941-1946 Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician and proposed satellite communication systems in 1945 which won him the Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Gold Medal in 1963. From 1947-1950 and again in 1953, he was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society. Later, he helped fight for the preservation of lowland gorillas. In 1961 he won the UNESCO-Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science.
Clarke emigrated to Sri Lanka in 1956 largely to pursue his interest in scuba diving, and lived there until his death. He was knighted by the United Kingdom in 1998, and was awarded Sri Lanka's highest civil honour, Sri Lankabhimanya, in 2005. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1994.