National Air and Space Museum Archives

Arthur C. Clarke 1991 Journal

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2018.0081
Creators:
Clarke, Arthur C. (Arthur Charles), 1917-2008
Dates:
1991
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
0.25 Cubic feet
One slim letter box.
Repository:
This collection consists of a folder of material that consists of handwritten and typed pages of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's 1991 journal.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of a folder of material that consists of handwritten and typed pages of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's 1991 journal. In the entries Clarke records both personal and professional activities. The folder also contains a few letters and cards, as well as a few articles, mostly concerning gay rights issues in Sri Lanka.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Arranged by date.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Born on December 16, 1917, in Minehead, England, Arthur Charles Clarke became obsessed with science fiction and astronomy at a young age. He was the eldest of four children born into a farming family, however, he would become, with his brother Fred Clarke acting as a business associate, one of the leading names in science fiction. During World War II Clarke served as a radar instructor and in his free time became one of the early members of the British Interplanetary Society. In 1945, Clarke made one of his earliest predictions (he called them "extrapolations") when he came up with the idea of communication satellites. He became known for this uncanny prescience which is seen in so much of his work. In 1948 Clarke graduated from King's College, London with honors in mathematics and physics. By 1951, Clarke had gained respect as both a fiction and non-fiction writer with Interplanetary Flight and Prelude to Space, respectively. In 1956, Clarke emigrated to Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, where he could indulge a new obsession, skin diving. He remained in Sri Lanka for the rest of his life, creating a diving company and funding many science education programs in the country. Perhaps Clarke's most recognizable feat came when he was able to work with Stanley Kubrick over the course of 4 years in order to create the book and film 2001: A Space Odyssey which was loosely based on the earlier Clarke story "The Sentinel." Clarke accomplished an amazing amount of writing, speaking tours, TV appearances and humanitarian work despite suffering from post-polio syndrome for decades. He won numerous awards, mostly for his science fiction but also for popularizing science. He was knighted in 1998. He died, age 90, March 19, 2008.

Administration

Author
Patti Williams
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Angie Edwards, Gift, 2018, NASM.2018.0081
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Patti Williams, 2020.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Preferred Citation
Arthur C. Clarke 1991 Journal, NASM.2018.0081, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Science fiction Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Journal Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lesbian and gay experience Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Astronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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