UNESCO Tribute to Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Sir Arthur was a faithful friend to UNESCO and was associated with UNESCO programmes in science over the years.

It is with great regret that we have learnt the sad news of the death of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the famous British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most known for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name.

In 1961, Sir Arthur C. Clarke received the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the popularization of science. During his acceptance speech he emphasized the importance of promoting public understanding of science and the fact that science, in its cultural as well as its technological sense, was the great enemy of fanaticism and superstition.

In 2001, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of space science, UNESCO organized an international meeting on the future of man in the third millennium, 2001: Space Odyssey in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary University of Paris. Sir Arthur, on this occasion spoke via teleconference and dialogued with the participants from his home in Sri Lanka. Mr Marcio Barbosa, the UNESCO Deputy Director General thanked him for his wonderful ideas which have widened our horizons and for his commitment to UNESCO’s education and literacy programmes and requested him to help us find solutions to poverty in the world. Sir Arthur suggested that new energy sources were a key solution to poverty reduction.

Very shortly before his death, Sir Arthur Clarke, delivered a poignant audio message to participants at the Global Launch Event of the International Year of Planet Earth which took place at UNESCO Headquarters on 12 and 13 February 2008. He recalled the fact that space science has given us a new perspective of our planet and its beauty, and also evoked the need for us to restore our strained relationship with the Earth, now in distress. Citing the example of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, where scientiscts lacked the means of reaching authorities who could evacuate people to safety, he lauded the aims of the IYPE, to create new knowledge of the Earth, and to engage science to influence policy and improve lives. He also expressed his great wish that the world would ‘kick its current addiction to oil’ and instead adopt clean energy sources in view of the urgent challenge of climate change.

On several occasions he expressed his appreciation of his long and close association with UNESCO.

Sir Arthur died at his home in Sri Lanka at the age of ninety.

• Author(s):Anne Candau
• Source:UNESCO SC
• 21-03-2008