Sir Arthur C. Clarke: Odyssey of a Visionary by Neil McAleer

Author:Neil McAleer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vearsa
Published: 2013-04-09T04:00:00+00:00

Clarke’s travels continued. His next destination was the Caribbean to see the total eclipse of the sun. On June 23 he boarded the Cunard Adventurer for a special cruise, with a full educational program and various scientific activities planned for two weeks. There were 550 passengers on board to learn and to see the eclipse in the open Atlantic on June 30. Wally Schirra and Rusty Schweickart were the two astronauts on board, and another dozen experts in the various sciences were on hand to give lectures. Clarke gave two lectures, each of which had two parts: “Life in the Year 2001” and “The Promise of Space.”

Kerry O’Quinn, program director for the cruise, and three years later to become publisher of Starlog magazine (1976), was responsible for the scientific classes and lectures.

“I stood in the back of the large cabaret theater (converted into a lecture hall),” said O’Quinn, “and listened as he told an entranced audience his predictions—how communications satellites would bring wonders to the underdeveloped peoples of our planet. He spoke of children in remote parts of India and Africa seeing television for the first time and having their minds fired with curiosity and new possibilities. He spoke of electronic education putting an end to illiteracy, to hunger, and even to war. He spoke of hope for the future, through science and reason.

“As I stood there and listened, his words touched me profoundly. I heard the thinking of one of the great minds of our century, and I found myself infused with admiration and inspiration.

“I also found myself crying, it was such an emotional experience.

“Afterwards I went and had a little talk with him and told him that he had brought me to tears. From then on, instead of being Mr. Clarke, he was Arthur. From that moment on we became soul mates.”

O’Quinn remembered one evening when astronaut Schirra and Clarke were sitting at the same table: “Unknown to us, the two of them were either the world’s best or worst punsters. The entire dining room would hear either gales of laughter or loud groans periodically coming from that table. This was a personal contest between Arthur and Wally as to who could make the worst pun. They did it constantly, and everybody would groan with delight.”

The Adventurer found clear weather in the Atlantic for the eclipse on June 30.

“It was a wonderful eclipse,” said O’Quinn. “It was one of the longest ones possible on Earth—almost seven minutes long at its maximum off the coast of Africa. For the Adventurer’s location in the Caribbean, it was not at its maximum duration, but was more like five minutes long.

“Arthur and I watched it together from the bridge with the captain, who invited us up. The captain also tried to stabilize the ship against rocking. Tripods, cameras, and telescopes covered the decks of the ship. We arranged to pass out special glasses for people to view the eclipse. And Arthur had brought along some eye patches which we could put over one eye.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.