Robert W. Rines: Inventor donated radar, imaging technology

1922-2009 | Physicist held more than 80 patents; co-won an Emmy

BOSTON -- Robert H. Rines, a lawyer, composer, inventor and physicist whose discoveries led to sharper resolution in radar, sonar and ultrasound imaging and who claimed to have seen the Loch Ness Monster, has died. He was 87.

Mr. Rines died of heart failure at his home in Boston on Sunday, surrounded by his family, his wife, Joanne Hayes-Rines, said Monday.

Mr. Rines invented prototype radar and sonar technology that was later also incorporated in ultrasound imaging of internal organs. He donated the radar patent to the U.S. government and gave the imaging patent to the rest of the world to use for free, Hayes-Rines said.

Mr. Rines held more than 80 patents. The radar technology patent -- developed while he was a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's radiation lab and honed while serving as a U.S. Signal Corps' officer in WWII -- formed the underlying technology used to guide Patriot missiles during the 1991 Gulf War and produce early warning missile-detection systems.

He also wrote music for more than 10 Broadway and off-Broadway productions and shared an Emmy for his work on a piece about former New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.

Born in Boston, Mr. Rines graduated from MIT and received a law degree from Georgetown. He completed a doctorate thesis at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.

He also is the founder of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire, the state's only law school that is also known for its intellectual property law program, and the Academy of Applied Science, a nonprofit group that promotes creativity and interest in science.

Mr. Rines used some of his inventions in attempts to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, and claimed to have seen Nessie in 1971. AP