Joseph Bendik first noted the interesting motion of the spinning disk while working at Hughes Aircraft (Carlsbad Research Center) after spinning a heavy polishing chuck on his desk at lunch one day. The spinning effect was so dramatic that he immediately called his friend and co-worker Richard Henry Wyles to take a look. He also called his friend Larry Shaw (Astrojax inventor) on the phone and had him listen to the sound of the spinning disk. For the next several years, Joe, Rich, and Larry worked to optimize the motion of the disk and develop a commercial version of the toy.