March 19, 2008: Sir Arthur C. Clarke

The author of some of the 20th century's most influential science fiction, who popularized the idea of a "space elevator" in his novel The Fountains of Paradise and wrote a paper describing geosynchronous communications satellites almost 20 years before the first one was launched, died yesterday at the age of 90.

The CNN obituary does a pretty good job of summing up his contributions. As of this writing, he's been the front-page story there for well over an hour (no less than he deserves) and his name has been spelled "Clark" in the first paragraph for that entire time (about par for CNN reporting). One trusts that history will get Sir Arthur's name right.
-- Steve Jackson