Associated Press and the BBC are reporting that science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has passed away at 90.

He sold his first science fiction short story in 1946 and invented the idea of satellites in geosynchronous orbit. While he is best remembered for co-writing 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick, for me his touchstone book is Childhood's End. This awe-inspiring, transcendent vision draws on the deepest hopes and fears of humanity, and prefigured both the consciousness-expansion of the 1960s and the Singularity.

In the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, John Clute and Peter Nicholls say:

For many readers, Arthur C. Clarke is the very personification of sf. Never a "literary" author, he nonetheless writes with lucidity and candor, often with grace, sometimes with a cold, sharp evocativeness that has produced some of the most memorable images in sf. He is deservedly seen as a central figure in the development of post-WWII sf, especial in his liberal, optimistic view of the possible benefits of technology (though one that is by no means unaware of its dangers.)

His writing won all the awards for sf that you can name, and the Science Fiction Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1986. He was one of the greatest sf writers, from the great age of sf. His vision will be deeply missed.

One might imagine him, now, as he imagines Dave Bowman at the end of 2001.

"There before him, a glittering toy no Star-Child could resist, floated the planet Earth with all its peoples. For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of something."