Biography
Rines was born August 30, 1922 in Boston, Massachusetts. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from M.I.T. in 1943, a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University in 1946, and a Ph.D. from National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan in 1972. During World War II Rines served as an Army Signal Corps officer and helped develop the Microwave Early Warning System. He held more than 800 patents, and his inventions underlie high-resolution image-scanning radar that was used in the Gulf War, and ultrasound scanning used in searches for deep-ocean wrecks such as the Titanic and the Bismarck. Rines used underwater ultrasound himself in his numerous Loch Ness expeditions. The technology is also used in medical ultrasound imaging.
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 in 1994 and the U.S. Army Signal Corps Wall of Fame. He was the founder of the Franklin Pierce Law Center, a private law school located in Concord, New Hampshire, and the 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 and M.I.T. and a member of the Technical Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Rines was also an accomplished musician and composer. At age eleven he played a violin duet with Albert Einstein at a summer camp in Maine. As a composer he wrote music for both Broadway and off-Broadway shows, including Blast and Bravos, a musical based on the life of H. L. Mencken. He also composed scores for O'Casey's Drums Under the Windows, O'Neill's Long Voyage Home, and Strindberg's Creditors. He shared an Emmy Award with playwright Paul Shyre in 1987 for the television and later Broadway play Hizzoner the Mayor.
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 M.I.T. after 45 years. He died November 1, 2009 at the age of 87.
Read more about this topic: Robert H. Rines
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