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The Arthur C. Clarke Gamma Ray Burst

Larry Sessions, a columnist for Earth & Sky, has suggested in his blog that the gamma-ray event whose radiation reached us a few hours before Arthur C. Clarke died, and which occurred 7.5 billion years ago, be named the Clarke Event. The outburst, which produced enough visible light to render it a naked-eye object across half the universe, is officially designated GRB 080319B. What more fitting tribute to Clarke than to associate his name with the greatest bang since the big one? Sessions suggests writing to any astronomers, heads of physics departments, or planetarium operators you know and talking up the proposal.

11 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Minor correction... by Dik+Zak · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, no, no, no, no! Eccentrica Gallumbits described Zaphod Beeblebrox as "the best bang since the big one." It says so right in your link.

  2. Re:Major correction... by diesel66 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Oh no! I'm stupid!

    It was Ms. Gallumbits describing Zaphod Beeblebrox

    How embarrassing!

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    eleven plus two / twelve plus one
  3. Overdoing it by isomeme · · Score: 4, Informative

    What, having the single most valuable orbit type named after him isn't enough? The orbit has the further advantage of actually being his idea.

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    When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
    1. Re:Overdoing it by Jonathunder · · Score: 5, Informative

      It wasn't his idea, though he did popularize it in a 1945 story. Herman Potocnik published a paper on geosynchronous satellites for communication in 1928.

  4. Re:Not only that... by Somegeek · · Score: 3, Informative

    Can you back up the pedophile claim? Thought not. As far as I can tell not one shred of evidence for the claim has ever been found. He was still knighted, after a two year delay caused by these claims. That shows pretty clearly that the claims were investigated and found to be false.

    --
    And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
  5. No need to mod anything in this thread up. by Somegeek · · Score: 4, Informative

    The facts have come out. Years ago. He never did anything. No one ever came forward. No evidence was ever found. This is old news.

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    And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
    1. Re:No need to mod anything in this thread up. by xtracto · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, for all the people that still think it might be true, the fact is that all the Sir Arthur C. Clarke paeophilia issue was brought forward by no less than The Sunday Mirror (or dailiy mirror) which is just a tabloid "news" paper in the UK. They even printed an apology and retraction.

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      Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  6. Re:GRB naming? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Gamma-ray bursts are given catalogue names based on the date they were discovered. There is no mechanism for naming bursts beyond that. Occasionally a burst is given an informal name. For example, one burst is sometimes called the Superbowl burst because it went off during the Superbowl (which is the name of an annual championship US football game). However, there is nothing official about these names, and the IAU does not recognize them. I like the idea of informally naming GRB 080319B after Sir Arthur C. Clarke. In fact, it is already being referred to that way by some people in the gamma-ray burst community. We will see if it catches on.

  7. Re:The Objective is to Remember by reverseengineer · · Score: 3, Informative

    In terms of more lasting recognition for Arthur C. Clarke, he already has asteroid 4923 Clarke, a dinosaur, Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei, Clarke orbits (an IAU recognized term for geostationary orbit), , a bunch of space stuff has already been named for his Odyssey works, and if we ever build a space elevator, it's likely his name will be connected in some way with that. The man has already been much honored, and deservedly so.

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    "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
  8. Re:Why God? by STrinity · · Score: 2, Informative

    Whoever modded me a troll should immediately lose all geek cred. My post was word-for-word from a Clarke story, except I changed Bethleham to Sri Lanka.

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    Les Miserables Volume 1 now up with my reading of
  9. Can someone please fix the modding on the parent? by PaganRitual · · Score: 1, Informative

    What the hell is the person that modded this a troll even doing in this article?

    This is not a troll, unless you have no geek cred whatsoever. It's a small segment from one of the best sci-fi short stories you'll read.

    I'm as anti-religion as the next nerd, but just because a post mentions a god, you can't immediately presume it to be trolling.

    Besides, it's a science-fiction article, if there was ever going to be a perfectly suitable place to make reference to gods, it's here.