Assistant Electrical Engineering Professor Kevin Gard has always been more of a tinkerer than a reader.

As a student in grade school during the 1970s, Gard said he amused himself with crystal radio sets and walkie-talkies. But there was one genre of literature that frequently piqued his interest: science fiction.

And one author in particular, Arthur C. Clarke, never stopped fascinating him.

“It just stuck with me because he tied in science facts with science fiction – where we are and where we’re going,” Gard said.

Clarke, the author of such works as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama, passed away Wednesday at the age of 90 after a writing career that spanned more than 50 years.

After completing 2001 in 1968, Clarke also worked with director Stanley Kubrick on a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the novel.

Although Gard said he was too young to see the movie when it was released in 1968, he said he remembers the novel well.

“I built up a lot of images of what my future was going to be,” Gard said. “I thought, ‘I’m going to be middle-aged in 2001.'”

That thinking eventually led Gard to realize he wanted to end up in the sciences. But even then, he continued to enjoy Clarke’s ability to visualize where science and technology would be in the future.

“He had the vision to look beyond where we’re at and see where we might be,” Gard said. “That really spoke to me as an engineer.”

Clarke’s work appealed to Assistant Electrical Engineering Professor David Schurig for many of the same reasons.

“He was one of the few authors with a gift for telling stories that included credible future developments in science and technology,” Schurig said in an e-mail Friday.

He pointed to technological concepts in Clarke’s novels – such as geostationary satellites – that have already been translated from text to the real world. He said Clarke’s idea of a space elevator, from the 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise is “being seriously considered.”

“When trips to orbit ‘up the cable’ become an everyday occurrence, we can thank this visionary once again for his inspiration,” Schurig said.

Gard said one of the greatest things about Clarke’s work is how it appeals to so many different people in so many ways.

“Everybody has their own viewpoint about what’s being said in the story,” Gard said of 2001. “A youngster today could read and have similar reactions that I did in the 70s.”

Ray Antonelli, a sophomore in biochemistry, shares that sentiment. A fan of Clarke’s work since the eighth grade, Antonelli said one of the things that continues to attract him to the author’s work is how willing he is to show readers new ways to perceive the world.

“He doesn’t try to force you to think a certain way,” Antonelli said. “It’s refreshing to read his books because they are so open-minded.”

In what Antonelli called a “humorous” coincidence, he actually finished Clarke’s book Childhood’s End the very day the author died. Antonelli said Clarke had a good reputation for answering reader mail, and he said he planned on asking the author some lingering questions before he heard the news.

“I didn’t get that chance,” Antonelli said.

He said Clarke’s ideas and work will have a lasting legacy for both readers and the genre of science fiction.

“One of his favorite ideas is that truth is stranger than fiction,” Antonelli said. “That will be the most timeless element of his work.”

But Gard said Clarke’s writing will have other impacts as well. Clarke’s writing, he said, has the power not only to shape people, but to “express to people sort of the magic of science, math and engineering fields.” He said that’s something scientists and engineers can’t always clearly express.

“Good writing touches vast groups of people,” Gard said. “If any writing influences a child or a teen to think about the future in a different way – to help find purpose and direction – that’s a significant impact on society.”