Sir Arthur C Clarke

He was buried today in Sri Lanka after dying on Wednesday.
I never met him, like most of us, but he's one of those authors that's made a huge impact, both on me and on people who've never heard of him. As well as being an amazing author, his 20001 (or as I prefer, Sentinel) is one of the great films, although the book's better.
He worked on RADAR in the second world war with the RAF and developed the specifics of the Clarke Geostationary orbit that allows so much of modern life.
I haven't read all that much of his work, in fact I was amazed how much there was, but one of the books that I did read when I was younger was a collection of his short stories, including the Sentinel. One of the ones that stuck with me was "The Nine Billion Names Of God." It turns out it's also one of Neil Gaiman's favourites. Like so many of his stories the end isn't what you expect. I think he was one of the writers that make me start to think that there was more to the world than I could see, and that finding out more about it could be the best thing possible.
Sir, you will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.