About: Arthur C. Clarke
(From Random House)

His honors include several doctorates in science and literature, a Franklin Institute Award, the UNESCO-Kalinga prize, and an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of 200l: A Space Odyssey. In 1987, he was invited to New Delhi to deliver the Nehru Memorial lecture, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He has also been Vikram Sarabhai Professor at the Physical Research Laboratories, Ahmedabad. In 1989, the astronauts' and cosmonauts' exclusive organization, the Association of Space Explorers, awarded him their Special Achievement medal at a ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Clarke's recreational interests include observing the Equatorial skies with a 14" telescope, table tennis (despite Post-Polio Syndrome), and playing with his Rhodesian Ridgeback and his six computers.
He has lived in Sri Lanka for the past 30 years, and in 1979 President Jayewardene appointed him Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa, near Colombo, which is the location of the government-established Arthur Clarke Center for Modern Technologies. The Center specializes in communications and computers. He is also Chancellor of the International Space University, and Master of Richard Huish College, Taunton.
In 1989, H.M. the Queen awarded Clarke a CBE for "services to British cultural interests in Sri Lanka." On returning to the UK in 1992 for his 75th birthday celebrations, he was made the first Freeman of his hometown, Minehead. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Next page