There is little celebration for a science fiction or fantasy writer. Many of the greats were little noticed in their lifetimes. Though this is certainly not the case with Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, or Isaac Asimov, there are a hundred writer for each of them that have never seen a Nebula Award or an Oscar. Literary or even cultural obscurity is one thing, but to fail to recognize a scientific breakthrough is shameful.

Though those in the know are aware Clarke was a great writer, they are usually not aware of the fact he pioneered the concept upon which modern global satellite communication is based. Having served in the Royal Air Force from 1941 through 1946 as a radar instructor and technician, Clarke first proposed the idea of a satellite-based communications system in 1945. He proposed geostationary satellites could be used as telecommunication relays in a paper entitled Extra-Terrestrial Relays, which was published in Wireless World in 1945.

It is hard to fathom the profound affect his simple idea has had on our daily lives, especially with regards to GPS tracking systems. It is easy to take the technology that makes cellphones and instant driving directions possible for granted. By triangulating a receiver on a phone or GPS device, satellites can pinpoint our location and lead us, as it were, to the Promised Land. A bit much to ask of a cellphone? Perhaps.

It is impressive that he envisioned the potential of the satellite well before the computer was little more than conjecture. He claimed the idea came from his experience with radar systems, wherein objects and their direction and trajectory can be accessed by the bounce effect of radar waves off metallic objects. GPS tracking systems and wireless telecommunications work on the same principle of deflected and directed waves, all triangulated by the sea of satellites orbiting the earth. A debt is owed to this bold visionary.