COLOMBO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke passed away at the age of 90 in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Wednesday morning, said the Sri Lankan government in a statement.

    The statement said Clarke, who had been living in Sri Lanka since 1956, passed away at 1:30 a.m. (0800 GMT).

British-born science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, pictured in 2007, died at a hospital in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, his aide Rohan de Silva told AFP. He was 90. (Xinhua/AFP, File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Clarke had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s, the statement said.

    Sources close to Clarke said the famous writer died of respiratory complications and heart failure.

    Most famous for expanding his short story "The Sentinel" into a novel and screenplay that served as the basis for Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the British-born Clarke authored more than 100 books involving space, science, and science fiction.

    Clarke was often credited with inventing the concept of satellite communications. Today, the International Astronomical Union refers to a geostationary satellite orbit as The Clarke Orbit.

    Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England on Dec. 16, 1917.In 1936, he moved to London, where he worked as a clerk.

    During the Second World War, he joined the British Royal Air Force and was eventually put in charge of a new radar-based blind landing system.

    Then, in May 1946, his first published story "The Rescue Party" appeared in Astounding Science Fiction.

    "The Sentinel" was published two years later. Kubrick approached Sir Clarke in 1964, and after four years of collaboration, they received a joint Academy awards nomination for their work on the 2001 screenplay.

    Clarke's "2001" novel, written alongside the screenplay, was followed by three sequels: "2010," "2061," and "3001: The Final Odyssey."

    Other well-known Clarke books include "Childhood's End," "The City and The Stars," "The Nine Billion Names of God," "Rendezvous with Rama," "Imperial Earth," and "The Songs of Distant Earth."

    Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980 and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America.