Arthur C. Clarke,
Kim Stanley Robinson, and any number of science news items. I'm a big fan of the idea, but people have to realize that this is one hell of a massive object, orders of magnitude more difficult than anything mankind has done before. But instead of a reason not to do it, I'd say that's a reason to try.
UG's LEO elevator would have to be a freestanding tower over 60 miles tall, and that would be an engineering feat even more difficult than the tether.