Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer, has died aged 90 in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, it was confirmed tonight.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30am after suffering breathing problems, his personal secretary Rohan De Silva said.

“Sir Arthur passed away a short while ago at the Apollo Hospital (in Colombo). He had a cardio-respiratory attack,” he said.

His valet, W. K. M. Dharmawardena, said that funeral arrangements would be finalised when his close family returned to the island from Australia.

Mr Dharmawardena said that Clarke’s condition had begun to deteriorate in recent weeks and he had been in hospital for four days.

The visionary author of more than 70 books, who was nominated for a Nobel Prize after predicting the existence of satellites, was most famous for his short story "The Sentinel", which was expanded into the novel that was later adapted for Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey".

He was also credited with inventing the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality.

Clarke was the last surviving member of what was sometimes known as the "Big Three" of science fiction, alongside Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.

The astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said that his friend was a “great visionary, brilliant science-fiction writer and great forecaster”.

“He said there would be a man on the Moon by 1970, while I said 1980 - and he was right,” he said.

“He was ahead of his time in so many ways. I’m very, very sad that he’s gone."

The pair met at the British Interplanetary Society in the 1930s and became friends. Sir Patrick said he spoke to the author a few weeks ago and was concerned about his health.

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