Arthur C. Clarke, the renowned Science Fiction author who penned such classics as Rendezvous with Rama, died today. He was 90.

I've read a few of his books, but the one piece of work that shook me to the core was the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. I own a copy on DVD and a copy of the original theater poster hangs in my TV room. From the sighting of the first monolith at the dawn of man to Astronaut Dave Bowman's final journey I have always been left in awe at his and Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece. And there never has been a monster in cinematic or literary history quite like the cold, mechanical killer Arthur C. Clarke created in the HAL 9000.

Rest in peace sir. You fired the imaginations of generations of kids that dreamed of the stars with your visions of what the universe really looked like. And now you finally know the answers to all of the questions you've raised in your work.