Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Riverton ... Robbins, Jerome

Riverton: city, Fremont county, west-central Wyoming, U.S. It lies along the Bighorn River at the mouth of the Wind River. Founded as Wadsworth in 1906, it was renamed Riverton because of its location near the convergence of four rivers.
riverweed: any of the aquatic plants of the order Podostemales (q.v.).
rivet: headed pin or bolt used as a permanent fastening in metalwork; for several decades it was indispensable in steel construction. A head is formed on the plain end of the pin by hammering or by direct pressure. Cold riveting is ...
Rivet, Paul: French ethnologist who suggested Australian and Melanesian origins for the Indians of South America and who founded (1937) a major anthropological museum, the Museum of Man (Musee de l'Homme), Paris.
Riviera: Mediterranean coastland between Cannes (France) and La Spezia (Italy). The French section comprises part of the Cote d'Azur (which extends farther west), while the Italian section is known to the west and east of Genoa as the Riviera di Ponente ...
Riviere, Jacques: writer, critic, and editor who was a major force in the intellectual life of France in the period immediately following World War I. His most important works were his thoughtful and finely written essays on the arts. In 1912 a ...
Riviere-du-Loup: city, Bas-Saint-Laurent region, southeastern Quebec province, Canada, about 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Quebec city on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.
Rivne: city and administrative centre of Rivne oblast (province), Ukraine, on the small Ustye River. First mentioned in 1282, Rivne was long a minor Polish settlement. In 1795 it passed to Russia and in 1797 was made a town. Growth began ...
Rivne: oblast (province), northwestern Ukraine. The northern part of the oblast is part of the great lowland of the Pripet Marshes, the terrain of which is flat, with extensive reed and grass marshes. Some of these marshes have been reclaimed for ...
Rivoli: town, Torino provincia, Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northwestern Italy, just west of Turin (Torino). Once the favourite resort of the counts of Savoy, the town is dominated by a castle begun by Victor Amadeus II, king of Sicily and Sardinia, in ...
Riyad, Mahmud: Egyptian diplomat who, as secretary-general of the Arab League (1972-79), was unable to prevent Egypt's 1979 expulsion from the league after that country signed a peace treaty with Israel.
Riyad, Muhammad 'Abd al-Mun'im: Egyptian officer who was chief of staff of the army of the United Arab Republic (U.A.R.) from 1967 until 1969.
Riyadh: city and capital of Saudi Arabia, in Najd region of the central Arabian Peninsula. It is situated on a high plateau in the midst of Wadi Hanifah, Wadi Aysan, and Wadi al-Batha'. Riyadh was chosen as the capital of the ...
riyal: monetary unit of Saudi Arabia and of Qatar.
Rizal, Jose: in full Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado Y Alonso Realonda patriot, physician, and man of letters who was an inspiration to the Philippine nationalist movement.
Rizalist cult: any of numerous ethnic religious groups in the Philippines that believe in the divinity of Jose Rizal, the national hero martyred by the Spanish in 1896. Among many peasant cults it is commonly believed that he is still alive and ...
Rize: city, northeastern Turkey, on the Black Sea. The city lies on wooded hills stretching down to the sea, with its commercial section on the narrow strip of flat land around a small bay. Rize enjoys a mild climate and luxuriant ...
RJR Nabisco, Inc.: former conglomerate corporation formed by the merger in 1985 of R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc. (a diversified company specializing in tobacco and food products), and Nabisco Brands, Inc., an international manufacturer of snack foods. In what was the biggest merger of ...
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.: American motion-picture studio that made some notable films in the 1930s and '40s. Radio-Keith-Orpheum originated in 1928 from the merger of the Radio Corporation of America, the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theatre chain, and the American Pathe production firm. Though it was one ...
RNA: complex compound of high molecular weight that functions in cellular protein synthesis and replaces DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) as a carrier of genetic codes in some viruses. RNA consists of ribose nucleotides in strands of varying lengths. The structure varies from ...
Rnying-ma-pa: (Tibetan: "The Old Order"), second largest Buddhist sect in Tibet; it claims to transmit the original teachings of the celebrated Indian Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism) master Padmasambhava, who visited Tibet in the 8th century and, with Santiraksita (another Indian teacher), founded ...
ro-iro: in Japanese lacquerwork, technique of coating with black lacquer, involving two major methods. Hana-nuri (or nuritate-mono) uses black lacquer that contains oil in order to impart a glossy finish to the article.
Roa Bastos, Augusto: Latin American novelist, short-story writer, and film scriptwriter of national and international fame.
roach: (Rutilus rutilus), common European sport fish of the carp family, Cyprinidae, widely distributed in lakes and slow rivers. A high-backed, yellowish green fish with red eyes and reddish fins, the roach is about 15-40 cm (6-16 inches) long and weighs ...
Roach, Hal: American motion-picture producer, director, and writer best known for his production of comedies of the 1920s and '30s featuring Harold Lloyd, Will Rogers, Snub Pollard, and Charley Chase, and for the enduringly popular films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy ...
Roach, Max: American jazz drummer and composer, one of the most influential and widely recorded modern percussionists.
road: the traveled way on which people, animals, or wheeled vehicles move. In modern usage the term road describes a rural, lesser traveled way, while the word street denotes an urban roadway. Highway refers to a major rural traveled way; more ...
road at sea, rules of the: internationally agreed-on traffic regulations for ocean waters. They were most recently revised in accordance with recommendations of the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea in 1965. They are supplemented by national regulations for inland waters. The most important ...
road race: in bicycle racing, a contest run on a course marked out over open roads and highways. It may be several laps of a closed circuit, a point-to-point or town-to-town race, or a combination of several point-to-point stages lasting several days, ...
Road Town: chief town and port of Tortola Island and tourist centre for the British Virgin Islands, situated on the western side of Road Bay about halfway along the southern coast. The name derives from the nautical term "the roads," a place ...
roadrunner: either of two species of terrestrial cuckoos, especially Geococcyx californianus (see ), of the deserts of Mexico and the southwestern United States. It is about 56 cm (22 inches) long, with streaked olive-brown and white plumage, a short shaggy crest, ...
roads and highways: traveled way on which people, animals, or wheeled vehicles move. In modern usage the term road describes a rural, lesser traveled way, while the word street denotes an urban roadway. Highway refers to a major rural traveled way; more recently ...
roan antelope: (Hippotragus equinus), African antelope, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), found in small groups on plains and scrublands. Related to the sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) and to the extinct blaauwbok, or bluebuck (H. leucophoeus), the roan antelope is a large, graceful animal ...
Roanne: town, Loire departement, Rhone-Alpes region, east central France, headquarters of an arrondissement, on the Loire River. Founded in the Romano-Gallic age, it was originally called Rodumna. The 11th-century castle-donjon is the only surviving remnant of its ancient castle. The centre ...
Roanoke: city, administratively independent of, but located in, Roanoke county, southwestern Virginia, U.S. It lies on the Roanoke River, at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley, between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, 148 miles (238 km) west of Richmond. ...
Roanoke College: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Salem, Virginia, U.S. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is also a member of Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Roanoke College offers bachelor's degree programs in such areas as ...
Roanoke Island: island in Dare county, off the coast of North Carolina, U.S. It lies south of Albemarle Sound, between the Outer Banks and the mainland. The island, 12 miles (19 km) long and an average of 3 miles (5 km) wide, ...
Roanoke River: river rising in the Appalachian Valley in Montgomery County, southwestern Virginia, U.S., and flowing in a southeasterly direction for 380 mi (612 km) into Albemarle Sound, on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina. It drains an area of 9,580 sq ...
roaring forties: areas between latitudes 40° and 50° north or south, where the prevailing winds blow from the west. These areas are better developed in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern because the winds are less restricted over oceanic regions. The ...
roasting: the cooking, primarily of meats but also of corn ears, potatoes, or other vegetables thus prepared, by exposure to dry, radiant heat either over an open fire, within a reflecting-surface oven, or in some cases within surrounding hot embers, sand, ...
Roatan: capital, Islas de la Bahia department, northern Honduras, on the southwestern coast of Roatan, largest of the Bay Islands; it is known locally as Coxen's Hole. Remains of 17th-century pirates' fortifications can still be seen; it was from Roatan that ...
Rob Roy: noted Highland outlaw whose reputation as a Scottish Robin Hood was exaggerated in Sir Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy (1818) and in some passages in the poems of William Wordsworth. He frequently signed himself Rob Roy ("Red ...
roba'i: in Persian literature, genre of poetry, a quatrain with a rhyme scheme aaba. With the masnavi, the rhymed couplet, it is a purely Persian poetic genre and not a borrowing from the Arabic, as were the formal ode (qasidah) and ...
Robards, Jason: intense, introspective stage and film actor, widely regarded as the foremost interpreter of playwright Eugene O'Neill.
Robbe-Grillet, Alain: a representative writer and leading theoretician of the nouveau roman ("new novel"), the French "anti-novel" that emerged in the 1950s. He also became a screenwriter and film director.
Robben Island: island in Table Bay, Western Cape province, South Africa. It is 5 miles (8 km) west of the mainland and 6 miles (10 km) north of Cape Town and has an approximate area of 5 square miles (13 square km). ...
robber crab: large, nocturnal land crab of the southwest Pacific and Indian oceans. It is closely related to the hermit crab, belonging to the same family, Coenobitidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea). Adults are about 1 m (about 40 inches) from ...
robber fly: any predatory insect of the family Asilidae (order Diptera), numbering about 4,000 species, worldwide in distribution. These flies have variable lengths that range to almost 8 cm (3 inches). They are the largest of all flies. Most are dull in ...
robbery: in criminal law, an aggravated form of theft that involves violence or the threat of violence against a victim in his presence. Many criminologists have long regarded statistics on robbery to be one of the most accurate gauges of the ...
Robbins, Frederick Chapman: American pediatrician and virologist who received (with John Enders and Thomas Weller) the 1954 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for successfully cultivating poliomyelitis virus in tissue cultures. This accomplishment made possible the production of polio vaccines, the development of ...
Robbins, Jerome: one of the most popular and imaginative American choreographers of the 20th century. Robbins was first known for his skillful use of contemporary American themes in ballets and Broadway and Hollywood musicals. He won acclaim for highly innovative ballets structured ...