Prolific science fiction writer and visionary Arthur C. Clarke died Wednesday morning at the age of 90 at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Clarke’s almost 100 books and countless essays not only popularized science and astronomy among readers but inspired scientists themselves. In fact, his stories often predicted developments in space technology well before they were realized.
Clarke frequently contributed both short stories and non-fiction essays to Playboy from 1958 to 1972. His first Playboy story, “Let There Be Light,” appeared just over 50 years ago, in our February 1958 issue. The story has some autobiographical elements—it’s about an amateur astronomer. But unlike the peace-loving author, his main character doesn’t always want to use science for good:
“For some reason it seems to surprise many people that an interest in astronomy is compatible with business acumen or even with common sense. This is a complete delusion, but in Edgar’s case, shrewdness did seem to have been combined with a vague impracticality in one and the same person; once he had made his money he took no further interest in it, or indeed in anything except the construction of progressively larger reflecting telescopes…
Well, there was a beautifully simple solution, which had come to Edgar in a blinding flash—literally, for it was while he was blinking in the glare of Mary’s headlights that Edgar conceived his perfect murder.
It is strange how apparently irrelevant factors can determine a man’s life; though it were churlish to say anything against the oldest and noblest of the sciences, it cannot be denied that if Edgar had never become an astronomer he would never have become a murderer. For his hobby provided part of the motive and a good deal of the means.”
RSS 2.0
http://www.playboy.com/mt-tb.cgi/10822