Robert Harvey Rines (August 30, 1922November 1, 2009) was an American lawyer, inventor, musician, and composer. He is perhaps best known for his efforts to find and identify the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster ( gd, Uilebheist Loch Nis), affectionately known as Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or mor ...

Biography

Rines was born August 30, 1922 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) in 1943, a Juris Doctor from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

in 1946, and a Ph.D. from

National Chiao Tung University National Chiao Tung University (NCTU; ) was a public research university located in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Established in 1896 as Nanyang Public School by an imperial edict of the Guangxu Emperor, it was one of China's leading universities. After th ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in 1972. During World War II Rines served as an Army Signal Corps officer and helped develop the Microwave Early Warning System. He held numerous U.S. patents on a wide variety of subjects. Although various on-line sources give their number as 80, 100, and even 200, the list published by the Franklin Pierce Law Center gives their number as 81, and 3 additional ones (Nos. 6,175,326, 7,314,178, and 7,392,192) can also be found in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records. However, 12 of those in the larger list are referred to as "applications only", leaving 72 actually issued U.S. patents. He was a renowned intellectual property lawyer, and in March 2004 received the Boston Patent Law Association "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his contributions in the field of intellectual property. Rines also was inducted as member of the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also oper ...

in 1994 and the U.S. Army Signal Corps Wall of Fame. He was the founder of the

Franklin Pierce Law Center The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law is a public law school in Concord, New Hampshire, associated with the University of New Hampshire. It is the only law school in the state and was founded in 1973 by Robert H. Rines as ...

, a private law school located in Concord, New Hampshire, and th
Academy of Applied Science
a Massachusetts and New Hampshire based organization dedicated to stimulating the interest of high school students in science, technology, and inventions. He was a lecturer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and MIT and a member of the Technical Advisory Board of the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busin ...

. In the early 80's Mr. Rines founded NEFFE, New England Fish Farming Enterprises, a Bristol, New Hampshire commercial Salmon farming operation. Rines was also an accomplished musician and composer. At age eleven he played a violin duet with

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

at a summer camp in Maine. As a composer he wrote music for both

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and off-Broadway shows, including ''Blast and Bravos'', a musical based on the life of

H. L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...

. He also composed scores for ''O'Casey's Drums Under the Windows'', ''O'Neill's Long Voyage Home'', and ''Strindberg's Creditors''. He shared a New York Emmy Award with playwright

Paul Shyre Paul Shyre (8 March 1926–19 November 1989) was an American director and playwright who received a Special Tony Award and won a Regional Emmy Award.Haymer, Johnny (21 November 1989) ''The Washington Post'' page B-7 He is noted for the play ...

in 1987 for the television and later Broadway play ''Hizzoner!'' His philanthropic activities included establishing the GREAT Fund, providing educational grants for a large extended family in perpetuity. In May 2008 Rines retired from his position at MIT after 45 years. He died November 1, 2009 at the age of 87.

Quest for "Nessie"

During a visit to Scotland in 1972, Rines reported seeing "a large, darkish hump, covered ... with rough, mottled skin, like the back of an elephant" in Loch Ness. Over the next 35 years he mounted numerous expeditions to the loch and searched its depths with sophisticated electronic and photographic equipment, mostly of his own design. While his investigations produced multiple theories and several tantalizing photographs, he was unable to produce sufficient evidence to convince the scientific community of the existence of the fabled monster. For this he received the Dinsdale Memorial Award in 2004.www.cryptomundo.com
Dinsdale Memorial Award 2008

References

*

''Invent Now''. Accessed on September 24, 2005.
Dr. Robert H. Rines
''

Lord Corporation LORD Corporation is a diversified technology and manufacturing company that develops adhesives, coatings, motion management devices, and sensing technologies for industries such as aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, and industrial. With world he ...

''. Accessed on September 24, 2005.
Money Magazine
''They Saved Small Business''. Accessed on August 28, 2008.

''Dr. Robert H. Rines: An Appreciation''. Accessed on October 9, 2008.
Inventors Digest
"Robert H. Rines 1922–2009". Accessed on November 2, 2009.

External links

- Daily Telegraph obituary

- Contributed by Christopher E. Strangio

- History of the Academy of Applied Science {{DEFAULTSORT:Rines, Robert H. 1922 births 2009 deaths Cryptozoologists American Unitarians Georgetown University Law Center alumni Harvard University staff Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Georgetown University alumni National Chiao Tung University alumni 20th-century American inventors United States Army personnel of World War II American expatriates in Taiwan