Sir Patrick Moore's Sir Arthur Clarke Award 2005
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Sir Arthur Clarke Award for ‘Best Written Presentation’, awarded in 2005 to amateur astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore, and space artist David A. Hardy, for their collaboration on the illustrated book Futures: 50 Years in Space.
Sir Patrick Moore (1923–2012) hosted the BBC’s The Sky at Night for over 50 years, commencing on 26 April 1957. The programme was one of Britain’s longest-running TV shows (and the longest run by the same presenter). In 1969 he was part of the BBC commentary team that described the Moon landings.
He was best known for his popularisation work, and described himself as an amateur astronomer as he never had formal training. However, his astronomical observations were significant in their own right; both NASA and the Soviet space authorities used his lunar atlas to prepare for robotic and crewed missions to the Moon.
The Sir Arthur Clarke Awards (sometimes known as the ‘Arthurs’) are British awards to recognise contributions to space exploration. They have been awarded annually since 2005. The shape of the award echoes the crystalline monolith in Clarke’s novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.
