Inventor of Rotating Laser Dies

Robert Studebaker, a pioneer in the development of rotating lasers, died April 30 in Tucson, Ariz. During the mid-1960s, Studebaker combined a commercially available laser with a motorized spinning prism to establish construction and surveying reference elevations on construction and agricultural sites.

He also developed and commercialized detection equipment to receive the laser signals so that the elevation could be accomplished by a single operator. Studebaker founded Laserplane Corp., which later merged with Spectra-Physics' Construction Systems Div.