Arthur C. Clarke

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke  (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist. For many years, he was known as one of the “Big Three” in science fiction.

Underwater Discovery

Clarke emigrated to Sri Lanka in 1956; that year, he discovered the underwater ruins of the ancient Koneswaram temple in Trincomalee.

Fascination becomes Skepticism

Early in his career, Clarke had a fascination with the paranormal. Citing the numerous promising paranormal claims that were shown to be fraudulent, Clarke described his earlier openness to the paranormal having turned to being "an almost total skeptic" by the time of his 1992 biography.

During interviews, both in 1993 and 2004–2005, he stated that he did not believe in reincarnation, citing that there was no mechanism to make it possible. He described the idea of reincarnation as fascinating, but favored a finite existence.