Clarke was a prolific writer on subjects both fictional and real. He cowrote "2001" with Stanley Kubrick as a screenplay and wrote the novel while the movie was filming. The novel sends the doomed space explorers to the moons of Saturn rather than Jupiter. The late Carl Sagan, who helped resolve the Voyager 2 flyby photos, sent Clarke a photograph of Iapetus, the moon in the novel, complete with a newly-discovered dark spot reminiscent of the monolith. Attached was a note:"Thinking of you ... " Clarke related this anecdote in the introduction to later novels in the same series. Other well-known works include Childhood's End, Rendezvous With Rama, and The Songs of Distant Earth, among many others.
Clarke was an inventive pioneer, and was one of the first to speculate about the use of satellites to revolutionize human communications, from an RAF memo he wrote in 1945. (Sputnik of course was not launched until 1957.) Stricken by polio, he was also an avid scuba diver, commenting, "I'm perfectly operational underwater."
He once said, "Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered. I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer."
From a videotaped greeting to NASA JLP on the occasion of the Cassini Spacecraft flyby of Iapetus:
After more than 40 years, I cannot remember why I placed the Saturn monolith on Iapetus. At that time, in the early days of the Space Age, earth-based telescopes couldn't show much details of this celestial body. But I have always had a strange fascination for Saturn and its family of Moons. By the way, that ‘family' has been growing at a very impressive rate. When Cassini was launched, we knew of 18 moons. I understand it is now 60 – and counting…I just can't resist the temptation to say:
My God, it's full of moons!
An excerpt from Clarke's diaries during the "2001" shoot:
October 3. Stanley on phone, worried about ending...gave him my latest ideas, and one of them suddenly clicked -- Bowman will regress to infancy, and we'll see him at the end as a baby in orbit. Stanley called again later, still very enthusiastic. Hope this isn't a false optimism: I feel cautiously encouraged myself.
October 5. Back to brood over the novel. Suddenly (I think) found a logical reason why Bowman should appear at the end as a baby. It's his image of himself at this stage of his development. And perhaps the Cosmic Consciousness has a sense of humor.
(Additional Source: Associated Press)