Clarke's Laws (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Shapiro, Fred]

The Yale Book of Quotations has the third law from a letter to the editor by Clarke published in Science, Jan. 19, 1968.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Mullins, Bill AMRDEC [Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL]
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 12:44 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Clarke's Laws (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Clarke's laws are generally written as follows:

1.  When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is
possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is
impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2.  The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture
a little way past them into the impossible.
3.  Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic.

(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws )

1st law is dated to 1962
2nd law is dated to 1962
3rd law is dated to 1972 in OED SF project, but is said to be from a
1967 speech.



"Science Fiction: Latter-Day Jules Verne" _Time Magazine_ Jul. 19, 1968
(archives don't give page #'s or page images)

"Space scientists who invited him to address the international
conference on bioastronautics and space exploration three weeks ago
obviously regard him as a peer. That broad acceptance testifies to the
validity of the three premises of which Clarke bases all his writing,
fiction and nonfiction alike:

> When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is
possible, is almost certainly right. When he States that something is
impossible, he 'is very probably wrong."

> "The only way to define the limits of the possible is by going beyond
them into the impossible."

> "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic."  "



Also, OED SF project has 1976 for "Clarke Orbit"
_Artificial satellite observing and its applications_ By Howard Miles
New York : American Elsevier Pub. Co., (c)1974. p. 30

"With Early Bird (6 April 1965) a Clarke orbit was achieved." (from
Google Books)



Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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