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[NOV. 28,
2003]
I have a business partner
named Joanne Hayes-Rines. She is the editor and publisher of
Inventors' Digest, the magazine for inventors. Over the course of
our four-year working relationship, she has told me bits and pieces
of her husband's work as a pioneering inventor.
But it wasn't until after I saw a
segment on The History Channel showing a 1972 interview with Dr.
Robert Rines that I decided to find out more about this interesting
inventor. While serving as a lieutenant -- first in Europe and later
in Saipan -- during World War II, Dr. Rines invented imaging radar
in order to give the soldiers more information and notice of
incoming enemy aircraft so they could defend themselves.
After the war, he received his law
degree and later completed a doctoral thesis in Taiwan, where he
helped improve their patent system. His early work with sonar
included bringing definition to it, and his discoveries ultimately
led to the development of the modern sonogram as well as the
technology that was used in finding the Titanic and the Bismarck.
Dr. Rines was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in
1994, and today he holds more than 80 patents.
What does all this have to do with the
title of this story -- something about the Loch Ness monster?
The History Channel interview with Dr.
Rines mentioned that he is one of the world's foremost experts on
the Loch Ness monster. On June 23, 1972, Dr. Rines saw the back of
the monster for about 10 minutes. Later that summer, he and his team
captured images of a flipper with an underwater still camera that
snapped pictures every 45 seconds.
When I backpacked around Europe in the
fall of 1988, I had only enough time and money to do one of two
things before leaving England -- either visit Stonehenge or Loch
Ness. When I asked some of the locals for suggestions, half of them
remarked, "Why would you want to go to Stonehenge? It's just a bunch
of big rocks," while the other half said, "Why would you want to go
to Loch Ness? It's just a big lagoon." Armed with such valuable
insights from the locals, I decided that my time and few remaining
tourist dollars would be better spent at Stonehenge rather than
searching for Nessie. I knew I could count on seeing a bunch of big
rocks.
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second column in this article] |
The
Nessie.co.uk website says that Sir Peter Scott, who served as
chairman of the World Wildlife Fund, claimed that a combination of
underwater pictures and earlier film records convinced him that
large animals exist in Loch Ness. He gave them the scientific name
of "Nessiteras rhombopteryx" in order for them to be protected under
British laws. Translated, the name means "the wonder of Ness with
the diamond-shaped fin," which was a reference to the underwater
photographs that Dr. Rines and his team took in 1972. Later it was
discovered by doubters that the letters in "Nessiteras rhombopteryx"
can be rearranged to spell "monster hoax by Sir Peter S," but Dr.
Rines countered that the letters can also be rearranged to spell
"Yes, both pix are Monsters R."
We might never know if Nessie has ever
existed, but it probably won't be proven that the giant monster has
never existed. The legend of the Loch Ness monster will always have
skeptics unless the actual monster is captured or the lake is
drained.
So how does Dr. Rines respond to the
skeptics who doubt his claim?
He just
smiles.
[Paul
Niemann]
"Invention Mysteries" is written each
week by Paul Niemann. He welcomes your comments at
niemann7@aol.com.
Last week's column in LDN:
"Who's the real McCoy -- an inventor, a boxer or someone else?"
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