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Douglas Adams' Legacy Lives on in Asteroid
By Michael Paine
Special to SPACE.com
posted: 09:53 am ET
14 May 2001
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adams_dent_obit_010514 Like a coincidence culled from one of his novels, on the day writer Douglas Adams died the Minor Planet Center announced the naming of asteroid "Arthurdent," after a character created by the late British author. Science fiction buffs around the world were saddened to learn of Adams' sudden death last week of an apparent heart attack. Adams was 49. In 1978 Adams created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of books, radio programs and television shows. A common theme were the strange space travels of a mild-mannered Earthling called Arthur Dent who was rescued from Earth just before it was destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass. The asteroid's name was proposed by Felix Hormuth, an astronomer at Germany's Starkenburg Observatory. The asteroid was discovered at that observatory on February 7, 1998. The Minor Planet Center announcement reads "The Earthling Arthur Dent is confronted with the adversities of life, the universe and everything in a highly amusing and entertaining way in Douglas Adams' famous five-volume trilogy The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy." The coincidence was reported in the e-mail newsletter CCNet that covers research on asteroids and comets.
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