Heywood R. Floyd
Encyclopedia
Dr. Heywood R. Floyd is a fictional character
in the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke
. He is featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey
and is the main protagonist in 2010: Odyssey Two
and 2061: Odyssey Three
. In the first movie he is portrayed by William Sylvester
, in the second by Roy Scheider
.
Heywood Floyd was born in 1956 in the USA. By 1999, he is chairman of the National Council of Astronautics, in charge of overseeing all American spaceflight operations. He has two daughters (only one in the movies, born 1994) and was widowed when his wife Marion died in a plane crash (this is not mentioned in the movie adaptations and Marion is still alive, though never seen, during the events depicted in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
on the Moon after a large rectangular black monolith dubbed TMA-1 (Tycho
Magnetic Anomaly 1) had been uncovered there. He was present when the monolith began emitting a signal when first exposed to sunlight. He authorized the Discovery One
mission to Jupiter
(Saturn
in the first novel) to investigate the presumed destination of the signals that were emitted by TMA-1.
computer and the disappearance of David Bowman, Heywood Floyd was scapegoated. He was forced to resign from the National Council of Astronautics, to be replaced by Victor Millson. He then moved to Hawaii
, where he became the Chancellor of the University. He married a woman named Caroline and together they had a son named Christopher, born in 2008 (2006 in the movie).
Floyd was one of the three American experts who were posted aboard the USSR vessel Alexei Leonov in the joint US-USSR mission to Jupiter to find out what happened to the Discovery. He went along with the designer of Discovery, Walter Curnow, and the creator of HAL, Dr. Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai, or Dr. Chandra for short. Once Discovery had been reached and HAL reactivated, Floyd was warned by David Bowman (who was now an incorporeal being) to leave the Jovian system in preparation for the transformation of Jupiter into a mini-sun. The sun, dubbed Lucifer, was the catalyst for the warring nations of Earth to seek peace and also assisted in the evolution of the microscopic lifeforms living in the subterranean oceans of Europa
.
In the novels, Floyd's marriage to Caroline broke apart as a result of the Leonov mission.
Floyd spent almost fifty years living in the Pasteur, up until 2061 at the age of 103 at which time he only appeared to be around 65 (his aging had been halted twice in his lifetime due to cryogenic hibernation on the Leonov mission). His son Chris had married and had a son, Chris II, before being killed in the "Copernicus Disaster".
Floyd was one of six celebrities brought aboard the Tsung Spacelines ship Universe for its historic landing on Halley's Comet
, and became one of the first people to walk on the comet's surface. It was also jokingly rumored that he was having an affair with former famous actress Yva Merlin. When news was heard that Universes sister ship Galaxy, of which Chris Floyd II was a crew member, had crash-landed on Europa, Floyd found himself on a rescue mission to save Galaxy. He helped convince the crew to attempt Second Officer Jolson's plan of taking water fuel from a geyser on Halley's Comet called "Old Faithful" rather than returning to the Moon first. That plan turned out to be successful.
At Yva Merlin's suggestion, Floyd called David Bowman on the radio asking for permission to land on Europa. That night he woke up to find a tiny version of the monolith floating inside his quarters. At that point, Heywood Floyd was split into two people: one was a human the same as he always was, and the other was an incorporeal being, similar to David Bowman. On Europa, the incorporeal Floyd appeared to his grandson Chris, making him think that Floyd was dead and he'd seen his ghost. Chris soon discovered that Floyd was not dead when they were reunited, and they became closer following these events. The incorporeal Floyd also became reacquainted with the incorporeal forms of Bowman and HAL. It was revealed that they "recruited" him to help them develop the Europans to further intelligence within the life-span of the Lucifer sun. It is not known what became of the original Floyd, but due to his age it is fair to assume that he died some time after. Floyd does not feature in any form in 3001: The Final Odyssey
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
. He is featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)
2001: A Space Odyssey is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. It was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick's film version and published after the release of the film...
and is the main protagonist in 2010: Odyssey Two
2010: Odyssey Two
2010: Odyssey Two is a 1982 best-selling science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. It is the sequel to the 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, but continues the story of Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation with the same title and not Clarke's original novel. The book is a part of Clarke's...
and 2061: Odyssey Three
2061: Odyssey Three
2061: Odyssey Three is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke that was published in 1987. It is the third book in Clarke's Space Odyssey series...
. In the first movie he is portrayed by William Sylvester
William Sylvester
William Sylvester was an American television and film actor. His most famous film credit was Dr. Heywood Floyd in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey...
, in the second by Roy Scheider
Roy Scheider
Roy Richard Scheider was an American actor. He was best known for his leading role as police chief Martin C...
.
Heywood Floyd was born in 1956 in the USA. By 1999, he is chairman of the National Council of Astronautics, in charge of overseeing all American spaceflight operations. He has two daughters (only one in the movies, born 1994) and was widowed when his wife Marion died in a plane crash (this is not mentioned in the movie adaptations and Marion is still alive, though never seen, during the events depicted in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
2001: A Space Odyssey
As chairman of the National Council of Astronautics, Floyd was called up to Clavius BaseClavius Base
Clavius Base is a lunar settlement in the fictional Space Odyssey universe created by Arthur C. Clarke.The base, located at Clavius crater, is featured in both the novel and film versions of 2001: A Space Odyssey. According to the novel, the base was finished in 1994 by United States Astronautical...
on the Moon after a large rectangular black monolith dubbed TMA-1 (Tycho
Tycho (crater)
Tycho is a prominent lunar impact crater located in the southern lunar highlands, named after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe . To the south is the crater Street; to the east is Pictet, and to the north-northeast is Sasserides. The surface around Tycho is replete with craters of various sizes,...
Magnetic Anomaly 1) had been uncovered there. He was present when the monolith began emitting a signal when first exposed to sunlight. He authorized the Discovery One
Discovery One
United States Spacecraft Discovery One is a fictional spacecraft appearing in The Space Odyssey series, including the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Discovery One is a large, nuclear-powered interplanetary spaceship.-History:...
mission to Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
(Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
in the first novel) to investigate the presumed destination of the signals that were emitted by TMA-1.
2010: Odyssey Two
After the mysterious failure of the Discovery mission with the malfunction of the HAL 9000HAL 9000
HAL 9000 is the antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction Space Odyssey saga. HAL is an artificial intelligence that interacts with the astronaut crew of the Discovery One spacecraft, usually represented as a red television-camera eye found throughout the ship...
computer and the disappearance of David Bowman, Heywood Floyd was scapegoated. He was forced to resign from the National Council of Astronautics, to be replaced by Victor Millson. He then moved to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, where he became the Chancellor of the University. He married a woman named Caroline and together they had a son named Christopher, born in 2008 (2006 in the movie).
Floyd was one of the three American experts who were posted aboard the USSR vessel Alexei Leonov in the joint US-USSR mission to Jupiter to find out what happened to the Discovery. He went along with the designer of Discovery, Walter Curnow, and the creator of HAL, Dr. Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai, or Dr. Chandra for short. Once Discovery had been reached and HAL reactivated, Floyd was warned by David Bowman (who was now an incorporeal being) to leave the Jovian system in preparation for the transformation of Jupiter into a mini-sun. The sun, dubbed Lucifer, was the catalyst for the warring nations of Earth to seek peace and also assisted in the evolution of the microscopic lifeforms living in the subterranean oceans of Europa
Europa (moon)
Europa Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and...
.
In the novels, Floyd's marriage to Caroline broke apart as a result of the Leonov mission.
2061: Odyssey Three
Following his return to Earth, Floyd became estranged from his son Christopher. After an accident in which he fell off a second-story balcony, Floyd was taken to the orbital station Pasteur for medical treatment. By the time he had healed properly his body had adjusted to one-sixth gravity and he could no longer handle Earth gravity, and so was forced to stay as a permanent resident of Pasteur.Floyd spent almost fifty years living in the Pasteur, up until 2061 at the age of 103 at which time he only appeared to be around 65 (his aging had been halted twice in his lifetime due to cryogenic hibernation on the Leonov mission). His son Chris had married and had a son, Chris II, before being killed in the "Copernicus Disaster".
Floyd was one of six celebrities brought aboard the Tsung Spacelines ship Universe for its historic landing on Halley's Comet
Comet Halley
Halley's Comet or Comet Halley is the best-known of the short-period comets, and is visible from Earth every 75 to 76 years. Halley is the only short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the only naked-eye comet that might appear twice in a human lifetime...
, and became one of the first people to walk on the comet's surface. It was also jokingly rumored that he was having an affair with former famous actress Yva Merlin. When news was heard that Universes sister ship Galaxy, of which Chris Floyd II was a crew member, had crash-landed on Europa, Floyd found himself on a rescue mission to save Galaxy. He helped convince the crew to attempt Second Officer Jolson's plan of taking water fuel from a geyser on Halley's Comet called "Old Faithful" rather than returning to the Moon first. That plan turned out to be successful.
At Yva Merlin's suggestion, Floyd called David Bowman on the radio asking for permission to land on Europa. That night he woke up to find a tiny version of the monolith floating inside his quarters. At that point, Heywood Floyd was split into two people: one was a human the same as he always was, and the other was an incorporeal being, similar to David Bowman. On Europa, the incorporeal Floyd appeared to his grandson Chris, making him think that Floyd was dead and he'd seen his ghost. Chris soon discovered that Floyd was not dead when they were reunited, and they became closer following these events. The incorporeal Floyd also became reacquainted with the incorporeal forms of Bowman and HAL. It was revealed that they "recruited" him to help them develop the Europans to further intelligence within the life-span of the Lucifer sun. It is not known what became of the original Floyd, but due to his age it is fair to assume that he died some time after. Floyd does not feature in any form in 3001: The Final Odyssey
3001: The Final Odyssey
3001: The Final Odyssey is a science fiction novel by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. It is the fourth and final book in Clarke's Space Odyssey series.-Plot summary:...
.