Stanislaw Lem, 84

Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, who often worked in the science fiction is satire and social protest mode, is dead at the age of eighty-four. He is perhaps best known by casual readers and viewers of the genre for Solaris, the story of a conscious planetoid, which was made into what became a cult film. For more about his life and works see the English version of Lem's website. As the BBC news story mentions, Lem's most current audience was among those interested in the the internet.