Coming to think of it, we should give Sir Artur his own section in the Forum, maybe in the Science Fiction section. I cannot remember 100%, but would not be surprised if Childhoods End was the first ever SF book I read in my early teens...
Here is a something I found on the foundation that shows what a visionary he was, and every time you watch football on 30 west with your motor moving the dish in a perfect arc remember he "invented" it:
60th anniversary of the Clarke Orbit
Sir Arthur Clarke has been asked many, many times if he's miffed that his invention of the communications satellite concept in late 1945 never really paid him a penny. His standard reply is to laugh and explain that he did not believe his original vision would be realized for many decades, and then he concludes by saying, "But I still think it's a good idea!"
Back in 1945, Clarke combined the technologies of rocketry, wireless communications, and radar to envision an extra-terrestrial system that relied on orbiting space stations to relay radio signals around the world. Just a dozen years later, the launch of Sputnik electrified the world, and brought his vision a step closer to reality. Less than a decade after that, in April 1965, the new international satellite telecommunications organization, Intelsat, under the management of the United States' Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), successfully placed the Early Bird satellite over the Atlantic Ocean into what is now known worldwide as "the Clarke orbit."
Just in time for the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969, Intelsat completed a sequence of launches that placed satellites in space over each of the three ocean regions foreseen by Clarke nearly 25 years earlier. As Intelsat satellites beamed live coverage of Neil Armstrong's "giant leap for Mankind," Clarke joined Walter Cronkite in the “global broadcast booth” to provide expert commentary on the mission and its relevance to a breathless world.
This year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the publication of Sir Arthur's short article, "Extra-Terrestrial Relays," in the October 1945 edition of Wireless World. His words put into play the minds of other scientists and visionaries working with rockets and radio, leading to the global satellite system and instant connectivity we take for granted today.
Thank you, Sir Arthur . . .
It might be interesting for some to read the original paper Clarke wrote, download the PDF here