Arthur C. Clarke. Caricature of the British-born science fiction writer, inventor and futurist Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (1917-2008). Clarke was famous for his classic science fiction novels, including the screenplay of the 1968 movie '2001: A Space Odyssey' (co-authored with the director Stanley Kubrick). He wrote over 70 works of fiction and non- fiction, predicting numerous scientific advances. In 1945, he described the use of the geostationary (Clarke) orbit for satellites that would (25 years later) revolutionise telecommunications.