As President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs I would like to express my deep sadness on the passing away of Sir Arthur Clarke in the country of his adoption - Sri Lanka.
Sir Arthur was a visionary scientist and a gifted science-fiction writer who always saw science as a way to enhance the quality of human existence. He resolutely opposed nuclear weapons and in a special taped greeting sent to the eminent Pugwash scientists and experts gathered in Bari, Italy in October 2007,he said that while “our race has still not been able to shake off its dangerous obsession with nuclear weapons” the world is a safer place thanks to the efforts of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs since their first historic meeting in Pugwash, Nova Scotia in 1957.
Sir Arthur's prophetic work on space and communication technology remains a testament of his remarkable scientific genius and creative imagination.He consistently advocated the maintenance of space for exclusively peaceful purposes opposing plans for the weaponization of space.He will remain a towering figure and those of us who had the privilege of knowing him are the richer for it.
