The Arthur C. Clarke gamma ray burst? at Tobias Buckell Online

Journal Entry

The Arthur C. Clarke gamma ray burst?

March 21st 2008 at 1:00 pm

Jason Sanford points out that Larry Sessions is proposing honoring Arthur C. Clarke by naming the recent amazing gamma ray burst after him:

As Jason points out:

NASA said this explosion was “the most intrinsically bright object ever observed by humans in the universe.” I can think of no better tribute than to name this event for Clarke, who brought more illumination to humanity than most ordinary writers can even dream of doing.

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3 Responses so far

1. Julia Petre on Mar 21st, 2008 at 6:39 pm

“Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.” -Arthur C. Clark, The Nine Billion Names of God.

This is the quote that was being sent among astrophysicists at the Greenbelt, MD NASA location. That department was responsible for the detection of the Gamma Ray blasts.
2. Mr Squid on Mar 21st, 2008 at 7:00 pm

I like the idea of naming this burst after Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Unfortunately there is no formal mechanism for naming gamma-ray bursts, other than by their catalogue number. However, I will see if I can slip the name into our Nature paper.
3. Watson on May 7th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

When beggars die no comets are seen. The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.