Obits in Brief: Robert H. Rines

Robert H. Rines, who died on 1 November aged 87, was 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.

Rines invented prototype radar and sonar technology that was later incorporated in ultrasound imaging of internal organs. He donated the radar patent to the US government and gave the imaging patent to the rest of the world to use for free.

Rines used some of his inventions in attempts to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, which he claimed to have seen in 1971. "It was maybe 45 feet in length with a neck 4 or 5 feet long," he once said. He also wrote the music for more than 10 Broadway and off-Broadway productions.