Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was a British science fiction writer, popularizer of space travel, futurist, and inventor. He is perhaps most famous for being co-writer of the screenplay for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, generally considered one of the most influential films of all time. His other science fiction writings earned him a number of Hugo and Nebula awards, along with a large readership, making him into one of the towering figures of the field. For many years he, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, were known as the 'Big Three' of science fiction. Clarke was also a science writer, who was both an ardent proponent of space travel and a futurist of uncanny ability, who won several awards in the field. These all together eventually earned him the moniker 'prophet of the space age'.
