Britannica Concise 2005

Randolph, John (b. June 2, 1773, Prince George county, Va.—d. May 24, 1833, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. politician. In 1799 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served almost continu¬ ously until 1829. A noted orator, he was a staunch advocate of states' rights and opposed a national bank and federal protective tariffs. A supporter of slavery, he led the resistance to the Missouri Compromise. His denunciation of Henry Clay for his support of the presidential candidacy of John Quincy Adams led to a harmless duel with Clay (1826).

random-access memory See RAM

Random House U.S. publishing company. It was founded by Bennett Cerf and Donald S. Klopfer in 1925. As it grew it published many suc¬ cessful and prestigious writers and gathered under its corporate roof many other firms, including Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (acquired 1960), Pantheon Books (1961), Ballantine Books (1973), Fawcett Books (1982), and the Crown Publishing Group (1988). It was itself bought several times before becoming in 1998 a part of one of the world’s largest media companies, Bertelsmann AG.

random variable In statistics, a function that can take on either a finite number of values, each with an associated probability, or an infi¬ nite number of values, whose probabilities are summarized by a density function. Used in studying chance events, it is defined so as to account for all possible outcomes of the event. When these are finite (e.g., the number of heads in a three-coin toss), the random variable is called dis¬ crete and the probabilities of the outcomes sum to 1. If the possible out¬ comes are infinite (e.g., the life expectancy of a light bulb), the random variable is called continuous and corresponds to a density function whose integral over the entire range of outcomes equals 1 . Probabilities for spe¬ cific outcomes are determined by summing probabilities (in the discrete case) or by integrating the density function over an interval correspond¬ ing to that outcome (in the continuous case).

range finder Instrument used to measure the distance from the instru¬ ment to a selected point or object. The optical range finder, used chiefly in cameras, consists of an arrangement of lenses and prisms set at each end of a tube. The object’s range is determined by measuring the angles formed by a line of sight at each end of the tube; the smaller the angles, the greater the distance, and vice versa. Since the mid-1940s, radar has replaced optical range finders for most military targeting, and the laser range finder, developed in 1965, has largely replaced optical range find¬ ers for surveying and radar in certain military applications.

Rangeley Vranj-le\ Lakes Chain of lakes, western Maine, U.S. It includes Rangeley, Mooselookmeguntic, Richardson, and Umbagog lakes. The lakes extend more than 50 mi (80 km) and cover an area of 80 sq mi (207 sq km), with elevations between 1,200 and 1,500 ft (365 and 460 m).

Ranger Any of a series of unmanned probes launched from 1961 to 1965 by NASA. The project was NASA’s earliest attempt to explore the Moon’s surface. Ranger 4 (1962) became the first U.S. spacecraft to hit the Moon, crash-landing on its surface as planned. The last three probes in the series (1964-65) sent more than 17,000 high-resolution photo¬ graphs of the Moon before crashing. See also Luna; Pioneer; Surveyor.

Rangoon See Yangon

Ranjit Singh Vron-jit-’sF-hoX (b. Nov. 13, 1780, Budrukhan or Gujran- wala, India—d. June 27, 1839, Lahore) Founder and maharaja (1801-39) of the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab. He became chief of the Shukerchakias (a Sikh group located in what is now Pakistan) on the death of his father in 1792. In 1799 he seized Lahore, the capital of the Punjab (and now in Pakistan), and in 1801 he proclaimed himself maharaja of the Punjab. In 1802 he captured Amritsar, a city sacred to the Sikhs, and by 1820 he had consolidated his rule over the whole of Punjab between the Sutlej and the Indus rivers. The Sikh state he created, which had included Sikhs, Mus¬ lims, and Hindus in both the army and the cabinet, collapsed soon after his death.

Rank, J(oseph) Arthur, Baron Rank (of Sutton Scotney) (b.

Dec. 22/23, 1888, Hull, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. March 29, 1972, Winches¬ ter, Hampshire) British motion-picture distributor and producer. His Brit¬ ish National Film Co. made its first commercial picture in 1935. That year he and Charles Woolf established General Film Distributors to distribute Universal Pictures films in Britain. By 1941 Rank controlled two of the three largest movie theatre chains in Britain. The J. Arthur Rank Organ¬ isation (incorporated 1946) dominated British film production in the late 1940s and ’50s. Rank served as chairman (1946-62) and president (1962- 72) of the Rank Organisation, which shifted from filmmaking to hotel ownership and other more profitable enterprises in the late 1960s.

Rank \'raqk\, Otto orig. Otto Rosenfeld (b. April 22, 1884, Vienna, Austria—d. Oct. 31, 1939, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Austrian psychologist. A protege of Sigmund Freud, Rank’s early books, including The Artist (1907) and The Myth of the Birth of the Hero (1909), extended psycho¬ analytic theory to explain the significance of myths. He edited the Inter¬ national Journal of Psychoanalysis (1912-24). The publication of The Trauma of Birth (1924), which was seen to undermine the principles of psychoanalysis by arguing that the basis of anxiety neurosis is psycho¬ logical trauma occurring during birth, led to his expulsion from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Rank settled in New York City in 1936, and his later work focused on the will as the guiding force in personality devel¬ opment.

Ranke Vraq-koV Leopold von orig. Leopold Ranke (b. Dec. 21, 1795, Wiehe, Thuringia, Saxony—d. May 23, 1886, Berlin) German his-

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1590 I Rankin ► Raphael

torian. Ranke taught at the University of Berlin (1825-71). Inspired by the scientific method of historical study used by Barthold Georg Niebuhr, he championed objective writing based on philological and textual criti¬ cism of source materials. His scholarly technique and way of teaching (he was the first to establish a historical seminar) had great influence on Western historiography. His many works covering a wide variety of top¬ ics typically are subtle accounts of particular limited periods in European state and political history that, like his source materials, take compara¬ tively little notice of social and economic forces.

Rankin, Jeannette (b. June 11, 1880, near Missoula, Mont., U.S.—d. May 18, 1973, Carmel, Calif.) U.S. reformer, first woman member of the U.S. Congress (1917-19, 1941-43).

She was a social worker and an active member of the woman suf¬ frage movement. Elected to the U.S.

House of Representatives in 1916, she introduced the first bill to give women the vote. A pacifist, she voted against declaring war on Germany (1917). After losing her bid for a U.S. Senate seat (1918), she returned to social work. In 1940 she was again elected to the House, where she became the only legislator to vote against the declaration of war on Japan. Declining to seek reelection, she continued to lecture on social reform. In 1968, at age 87, she led 5,000 women, the “Jeannette Rankin Brigade,” in protest of the Vietnam War.

Rankine Vraq-ksnV William J(ohn) M(acquorn) (b. July 5, 1820, Edinburgh, Scot.—d. Dec. 24, 1872, Glasgow) Scottish engineer and physicist, one of the founders of thermodynamics. His classic Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers (1859) was the first attempt at a systematic treatment of the theory of steam engines. He worked out a thermodynamic cycle of events (the Rankine cycle) that was used as a standard for the performance of steam-power installations in which a condensable vapour provides the working fluid.

Rankine cycle Ideal cyclical sequence of changes of pressure and tem¬ perature of a fluid, such as water, used in an engine, such as a steam engine. Described in 1859 by William Rankine, it is used as a standard for rating the performance of steam power plants. In the Rankine cycle, the work¬ ing substance of the engine undergoes four successive changes: (1) heat¬ ing at constant volume (as in a boiler), (2) evaporation and superheating (if any) at constant pressure, (3) isentropic expansion in the engine, and (4) condensation at constant pressure with return of the fluid to the boiler. See also Carnot cycle.

Ransom, John Crowe (b. April 30, 1888, Pulaski, Tenn., U.S.—d. July 4, 1974, Gambier, Ohio) U.S. poet and critic. Ransom attended and later taught at Vanderbilt University, where he became the leader of the Fugitives, a group of poets who shared a belief in the South and its agrar¬ ian traditions and published the influential journal The Fugitive (1922- 25); he was among those Fugitives called Agrarian who contributed to I’ll Take My Stand (1930). At Kenyon College, he founded and edited (1939— 59) the Kenyon Review. His literary studies include The New Criticism (1941), which gave its name to an important critical movement (see New Criticism), and he became recognized as a leading theorist of the post- World War I Southern literary renaissance. His Selected Poems (1945; rev. ed., 1969) won the National Book Award.

rap Musical style in which rhythmic and/or rhyming speech is chanted (“rapped”) to musical accompaniment. This backing music, which can include digital sampling (music and sounds extracted from other record¬ ings), is also called hip-hop, the name used to refer to a broader cultural movement that includes rap, deejaying (turntable manipulation), graffiti painting, and breakdancing. Rap, which originated in African American communities in New York City, came to national prominence with the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” (1979). Rap’s early stars included Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, Public Enemy (who espoused a radical political message), and the Beastie Boys. The late 1980s saw the advent of “gangsta rap,” with lyrics that were often

misogynistic or that glamorized violence and drug dealing. More recent stars have included Sean “Puffy” Combs, Jay-Z, OutKast, and Eminem.

Rapa Nui See Easter Island

Rapallo \ra-'pa-l6. Treaty of (April 16, 1922) Treaty between Ger¬ many and the Soviet Union, signed at Rapallo, Italy. Negotiated by Ger¬ many’s Walther Rathenau and the Soviet Union’s Georgy V. Chicherin, it reestablished normal relations between the two nations. The nations agreed to cancel all financial claims against each other, and the treaty strengthened their economic and military ties. As the first agreement con¬ cluded by Germany as an independent agent since World War I, it angered the Western Allies.

rape Annual plant {Brassica napus) of the mustard family, native to Europe. This 1-ft-tall (30-cm) plant has a long, thin taproot; smooth, bluish-green, deeply scalloped leaves; and clusters of yellow flow¬ ers. Each round, elongated seedpod has a short beak and contains many seeds. The seeds yield an oil (rape- seed oil, or canola) that is the lowest in saturated fat of any edible oil, mak¬ ing it popular for use in cooking. It is also used as an ingredient in soap and margarine and as a lamp fuel.

rape Unlawful sexual activity, usu¬ ally sexual intercourse, carried out forcibly or under threat of injury and against the will of the victim.

Though traditionally limited to attacks on women by men, the defi¬ nition of rape has been broadened to cover same-sex attacks and attacks against those who, because of men¬ tal illness, intoxication, or other reasons, are incapable of valid consent. Statutory rape, or intercourse with a person younger than a certain age (generally from 12 to 18 years), has long been a serious crime in most jurisdictions. Rape is widely considered an expression of anger or aggres¬ sion and a pathological assertion of power by the rapist. The psychologi¬ cal responses of victims vary but usually include feelings of shame, humiliation, confusion, fear, and rage. Many rape victims fail to report the crime, deterred by the prospect of a distressing cross-examination in court and the difficulty of proving a crime for which there usually are no witnesses. In the late 20th century there was a notable increase in the use of rape as a weapon of war, and in the 1990s the tribunal investigating crimes stemming from genocide in Rwanda ruled that rape and sexual violence constituted a form of genocide. See also assault and battery.

Raphael Vra-fe-ol, 'ra-fe-oH orig. Raffaello Sanzio (b. April 6,1483, Urbino, Duchy of Urbino—d. April 6, 1520, Rome, Papal States) Italian painter and architect. As a member of Perugino’s workshop, he established his mastery by 17 and began receiving important commissions. In 1504 he moved to Florence, where he executed many of his famous Madonnas; his unity of composition and suppression of inessentials is evident in The Madonna of the Goldfinch (c. 1506). Though influenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s chiaroscuro and sfumato, his figure types were his own creation, with round, gentle faces that reveal human sentiments raised to a sublime serenity. In 1508 he was summoned to Rome to decorate a suite of papal chambers in the Vatican. The frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura are probably his greatest work; the most famous. The School of Athens (1510— 11), is a complex and magnificently ordered allegory of secular knowledge showing Greek philosophers in an architectural setting. The Madonnas he painted in Rome show him turning away from his earlier work’s serenity to emphasize movement and grandeur, partly under Michelangelo’s High Renaissance influence. The Sistine Madonna (1513) shows the richness of colour and new boldness of compositional invention typical of his Roman period. He became the most important portraitist in Rome, designed 10 large tapestries to hang in the Sistine Chapel, designed a church and a chapel, assumed the direction of work on St. Peter's Basilica at the death of Donato Bramante, and took charge of virtually all the papacy’s projects in archi¬ tecture, painting, and the preservation of antiquities. When he died on his 37th birthday, his last masterpiece, the Transfiguration altarpiece, was placed at the head of his bier.

Jeannette Rankin, 1918.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Raphael ► Rastenburg Assassination Plot I 1591

Raphael In the Bible and the Qur’an, one of the archangels. In the apoc¬ ryphal book of Tobit he appears in human disguise and conquers the demon Asmodeus. His name in Hebrew means “God has healed,” and in Tobit his business is to heal the earth. Raphael is reckoned among the saints in both Eastern and Western churches, and his feast day is October

Rapier \'rap-yor\, James T(homas) (b. Nov. 13, 1837, Florence, Ala., U.S.—d. May 31, 1883, Montgomery, Ala.) U.S. politician. The son of a slave and a wealthy planter, he was educated in Canada and Scot¬ land. After the American Civil War he returned to Alabama, where he became a successful cotton planter and a delegate to the state’s first Republican convention. Serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1873-75) during Reconstruction, he worked for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. He was later collector of internal revenue in Ala¬ bama’s second district, and he remained active as a labour organizer and publisher of the Montgomery Sentinel.

raptor \'rap-tor \ In general, any bird of prey, including owls. The raptors are sometimes restricted to eagles, falcons, hawks, and vultures (birds of the order Falconiformes), all diurnal predators that “seize and carry off” (Latin raptare) their prey.

rare earth metal Any of a large class of chemical elements including scandium (atomic number 21), yttrium (39), and the 15 elements from 57 (lanthanum) to 71 (see lanthanides). The rare earths themselves are pure or mixed oxides of these metals, originally thought to be quite scarce; how¬ ever, cerium, the most plentiful, is three times as abundant as lead in the Earth’s crust. The metals never occur free, and the pure oxides never occur in minerals. These metals are similar chemically because their atomic structures are generally similar; all form compounds in which they have valence 3, including stable oxides, carbides, and borides.

Ra’s NasranT See Cape NasranT

Rashi \'ra-she\ in full Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi (b. 1040, Troyes, Champagne—d. July 13, 1105, Troyes) Medieval French commentator on the Bible and the Talmud. He studied in the schools of Worms and Mainz and became a local Jewish leader in the valley of the Seine c. 1065. His influential writings on the Bible examined the literal meaning of the text and used allegory, parable, and symbolism to analyze its nonliteral mean¬ ing. His landmark commentary on the Talmud is a classic introduction to biblical and postbiblical Judaism.

Rashid Rida Xra-'shed-re-'daV Muhammad (b. 1865, Syria—d. 1935, Syria) Syrian Islamic scholar. As founder (1898) and publisher of the newspaper Al-Manar, he helped Muslims formulate an intellectual response to the problem of reconciling their religious heritage with the modern world. He was concerned with the backwardness of the Muslim countries, which he proposed to remedy by reviving the original principles of Islam. He advocated that rulers consult with religious leaders in for¬ mulating government policies. He also urged Arabs and Muslims to emu¬ late the scientific and technological progress of the West.

Rashidun \,ra-shi- , dun\ Arabic "Rightly Guided" First four caliphs of the Islamic community: AbG Bakr, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, and ‘All As Islam’s first rulers after Muhammad, they assumed all his duties except prophecy: they led the congregation in prayer, delivered the Friday sermons, and commanded the army. The caliphate of the Rash- Idun expanded the Islamic state beyond Arabia into Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, and Armenia. They were also responsible for the adoption of the Islamic calendar and the establishment of an authoritative reading of the Qur’an.

Rashnu Vrash-nu\ In Zoroastrianism, the god of justice, who determines the fates of the dead. Assisted by Mithra and Sraosha, Rashnu stands at the Bridge of the Requiter and weighs on his golden scales the deeds of the souls that wish to pass. The divine triad sometimes attempts to inter¬ cede for souls and obtain forgiveness for their sins. The 18th day of the month is sacred to Rashnu.

Rasht City (pop., 1996: 417,748), north-central Iran. It is situated on a branch of the Safid River south of the Caspian Sea. Its importance as the main city of the Gllan region dates from Russia’s expansion southward in the 17th century. In the 20th century, it was severely damaged by Rus¬ sian occupation during both world wars. Surrounded by rice fields and areas of half-cleared forests, it is a market and processing centre for rice, tea, peanuts, and silk.

Rask Vrask\, Rasmus (Kristian) (b. Nov. 22, 1787, Braendekilde, Den.—d. Nov. 14, 1832, Copenhagen) Danish linguist. A scholar of Indo- European languages, he was a principal founder of the science of com¬ parative linguistics. His observation that sound shifts between corresponding words in Germanic and other Indo-European languages fol¬ lowed predictable patterns was the basis of a fundamental law of linguis¬ tics later enunciated by Jacob Grimm (Grimm’s law). Rask also carried out extensive research on Old Norse, publishing his Investigation of the Ori¬ gin of the Old Norse or Icelandic Language in 1818. By the end of his life he had mastered 25 languages and dialects.

Raskob Vras-kobV, John Jakob (b. March 19, 1879, Lockport, N.Y., U.S.—d. Oct. 15, 1950, Centreville, Md.) U.S. financier. He went to work for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. in 1902 and played a major role in Du Pont’s expansion in the early 20th century. He joined the board of General Motors in 1915; as chairman of its finance committee from 1918, he greatly increased sales and earnings, establishing the General Motors Acceptance Corp. (GMAC) to allow dealers to finance their inventory and offer credit and long-term financing to their customers. He left in 1928 to head the Democratic National Committee and run Alfred E. Smith’s unsuccessful presidential campaign; later he and Smith helped direct the construction of the Empire State Building.

raspberry Any of many species of fruit-bearing bushes of the genus Rubus in the rose family. When picked, the juicy red, purple, or black berry separates from a core, whereas in the related blackberry the core is part of the fruit. Both so-called ber¬ ries are actually aggregate fruits. Red raspberries are propagated by suck¬ ers (see suckering) from the roots of the parent plant or from root cuttings.

Black and purple varieties have arched canes and are propagated by layering of the shoot tips. Raspberries contain iron and vitamin C. They are eaten fresh and are also very popular in jams, as a pastry filling, and as a flavouring for liqueurs.

Rasputin Xra-'spyu-UnX, Grigory (Yefimovich) orig. Grigory (Yefimovich) Novykh (b. 1872?, Pokrovskoye, near Tyumen, Sibe¬ ria, Russian Empire—d. Dec. 30, 1916, Petrograd) Russian mystic influ¬ ential at the court of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra. An illiterate peasant, he earned the name rasputin (“debauched one”) for his early licentious behaviour. After undergoing a religious experience, he gained a reputa¬ tion among the peasants as a holy man, able to heal the sick. He became known to Nicholas and the susceptible Alexandra, and he proved capable of stopping the bleeding of their hemophiliac son, probably by means of hypnotism. He became a favourite at court, despite reports of his con¬ tinuing and flagrant debauchery. When Nicholas left Alexandra in charge of Russia’s internal affairs in 1915, Rasputin influenced her appointment of church officials and incompetent cabinet ministers. After several attempts to remove his harmful influence, a group of noblemen including Prince Felix Yusupov assassinated him by successively poisoning him, shooting him, and finally throwing him into the ice-filled Neva River. The Russian Revolution of 1917 followed weeks later.

Rastafarian \,ras-t9-'fer-e-3n\ Member of a political and religious movement among blacks in Jamaica and several other countries. Rasta¬ farians worship Haile Selassie, considering him the Messiah. They believe that blacks are the Israelites reincarnated, who have been subjected to the evil and inferior white race in divine punishment for their sins; they will eventually be redeemed by repatriation to Africa and will compel the whites to serve them. These beliefs, first enunciated in 1953, can be traced to several independent prophets, particularly Marcus Garvey. As the movement grew, ideas of repatriation tended to give way to either black militancy or mysticism. The Rastafarian life usually includes vegetarian¬ ism, the wearing of dreadlocks, and the smoking of marijuana.

Rastatt and Baden Vra- I shtat... , bad- 3 n\, treaties of (March 6 and Sept. 7, 1714) Two peace treaties between Charles VI, the Holy Roman emperor, and France that ended Charles’s attempt to continue the War of the Spanish Succession. In these treaties, Charles renounced his claims to the Spanish throne but did not actually make peace with Spain.

Rastenburg Assassination Plot See July Plot

Black raspberry (Rubus occidentals).

GRANT HEILMAN

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1592 I rat ► rattlesnake

rat Any of more than 500 forms of Asian rodent (genus Rattus, family Muridae) that have been introduced worldwide. The black rat {Rattus rat¬ tus) and the Norway rat {R. norveg- icus) are the aggressive, omnivorous animals commonly associated with the name. They prefer areas of human habitation, where they can easily find food. They have keen senses and can climb, jump, burrow, or gnaw their way into seemingly inaccessible places. They reproduce extremely rapidly (up to 150 offspring a year) and have few natural preda¬ tors. Rats transmit numerous human diseases and have often destroyed grain supplies. The black rat is about 8 in. (20 cm) long, excluding the slightly longer tail. The Norway rat (also called the brown, barn, sewer, or wharf rat) has proportionately smaller ears and a shorter tail. Labora¬ tory rats are strains of the Norway rat. The name rat is applied, without scientific basis, to other rodents (e.g., kangaroo rat, wood rat).

rat snake Any of 40-55 snake species in the genus Elaphe (family Col- ubridae) and similar forms, found in woodlands and barnyards in North America, Europe, and Asia. Nonven- omous, they kill rats and mice by constriction, and also eat eggs and poultry. Some hunt birds in trees.

These egg-laying snakes are nor¬ mally slow and docile, but in self- defense they vibrate the tail, discharge a foul liquid, and strike from an upreared position. The black rat, or pilot black, snake ( E. obsoleta obsoleta) of the eastern U.S. may exceed 8 ft (2.5 m).

ratchet Mechanical device that transmits intermittent motion or per¬ mits a shaft to rotate in one direction but not in the opposite one. Reversible ratchets are used on socket wrench handles and are convenient for tightening or loosening bolts in positions where a complete revolution of a wrench handle is impossible. They are used in mechanical jacks to lock the jack rod after each successive lift.

Rathbone, (Philip St. John) Basil (b. June 13,1892, Johannesburg, S.Af.—d. July 21, 1967, New York, N.Y., U.S.) British actor. He made his stage debut in 1911 and later played classical roles in London and New York City. From 1924 he appeared in Hollywood movies, often in romantic roles. With his distinctive voice and gaunt appearance, he was cast as a vil¬ lain in several swashbuckling movies starring Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn. He won praise for his roles in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and If I Were King (1938), but he became best known for portraying Sherlock Holmes in a series of films that began with The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939).

Rathenau \'ra-t 3 n-,au,\ English Vra-thon-.auV, Walther (b. Sept. 29, 1867, Berlin, Prussia—d. June 24, 1922, Berlin, Ger.) German industri¬ alist and statesman. From 1915 he headed the AEG conglomerate devel¬ oped by his father, Emil Rathenau (1838-1915). In World War I he organized the conservation and distribution of raw materials for the War Ministry. In 1918 he cofounded the liberal German Democratic Party and supported cooperation with the Social Democratic Party. After serving as minister of reconstruction (1921-22), he was appointed foreign minister and negotiated the Treaty of Rapallo with the Soviet Union. Reviled by extreme nationalists as a Jew and a promoter of “creeping Communism,” he was assassinated.

Rathke Vrat-koX, Martin H(einrich) (b. Aug. 25, 1793, Danzig, Prussia—d. Sept. 3, 1860, Konigsberg) German anatomist and embryolo¬ gist. He was the first to describe gill slits and gill arches in mammal and bird embryos. He thought they were vestigial gills but recognized their significance in development of the associated blood vessels. He first described the Rathke pouch (1839), an embryonic structure that develops into the pituitary gland’s anterior lobe. He also did pioneering marine zoology research.

ratio Quotient of two values. The ratio of a to b can be written a:b or as the fraction alb. In either case, a is the antecedent and b the conse¬

quent. Ratios arise whenever comparisons are made. They are usually reduced to lowest terms for simplicity. Thus, a school with 1,000 students and 50 teachers has a student/teacher ratio of 20 to 1. The ratio of the width to the height of a rectangle is called an aspect ratio, an example of which is the golden ratio of classical architecture. When two ratios are set equal to each other, the resulting equation is called a proportion.

rational number Any number that can be represented as the quotient of two integers (i.e., the denominator cannot equal zero). The set of ratio¬ nal numbers includes all integers as well as all fractions. In decimal form, rational numbers are either terminating or repeating decimals.

rational psychology Metaphysical discipline that attempted to deter¬ mine the nature of the human soul by a priori reasoning. In Christian Wolff’s division of metaphysics, rational psychology was one of three disciplines included under the heading of “special metaphysics” (the others being rational cosmology and rational theology). Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of Pure Reason , criticized the pretensions of rational psychology.

rationalism Philosophical view that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. Rationalism has long been the rival of empiricism, the doctrine that all knowledge of matters of fact ultimately derives from, and must be tested by, sense experience. As against this doctrine, ratio¬ nalism holds reason to be a faculty that can lay hold of truths beyond the reach of sense perception, both in certainty and in generality. In stressing the existence of a “natural light,” rationalism also has been the rival of systems claiming esoteric knowledge, whether from mystical experience, revelation, or intuition, and has been opposed to various irrationalisms that tend to stress the biological, the emotional or volitional, the uncon¬ scious, or the existential at the expense of the rational.

rationing Government allocation of scarce resources and consumer goods, usually adopted during wars, famines, or other national emergen¬ cies. Rationing according to use prohibits the less important uses of a com¬ modity (e.g., the use of gasoline for pleasure trips as opposed to work- related travel). Rationing by quantity limits the amounts of a commodity available to each claimant (e.g., a pound of butter per month). Rationing by value limits the amount of money consumers can spend on commodities that are difficult to standardize (e.g., clothing). Point rationing assigns a point value to each commodity and allocates a certain number of points to each consumer. These can be tracked through coupons, which are issued to consumers and must be exchanged for the approved amounts of rationed goods. Consumers in a rationed economy are usually encouraged to save their money or invest in government bonds so that unspent money will not be used for unrationed items or purchases on the black market.

ratite \'ra-,tlt\ Any bird species that cannot fly because its smooth, or raftlike, sternum (breastbone) lacks a keel to which flight muscles can be anchored. The group includes some of the largest birds of all time. Two extinct types, the slow-moving, heavy-bodied elephant bird of Madagas¬ car and the moas of New Zealand, grew to 10 ft (3 m) tall. Extant ratites include the cassowary, emu, kiwi, ostrich, and rhea.

Rattigan, Sir Terence (Mervyn) (b. June 10, 1911, London, Eng.—d. Nov. 30, 1977, Hamilton, Bermuda) British playwright. After writing two comedies, he won acclaim for the drama The Winslow Boy (1946; film, 1948). His best-known work, Separate Tables (1955; film, 1958), explores the isolation created by rigidly imposed social conven¬ tions. His other plays include The Browning Version (1948), Ross (1960), and A Bequest to the Nation (1970). He wrote screenplays for the film adaptations of his plays and for The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1965) and Good¬ bye Mr. Chips (1969).

rattlesnake Any of about 30 spe¬ cies in two genera of New World pit vipers having a tail rattle that pro¬ duces a buzzing sound when vibrated. The rattle is composed of horny, loosely connected segments added one at a time with each molt.

Sistrurus species have large scales on the top of the head. Crotalus spe¬ cies have mostly small scales on the head. Species range from 1 to 8 ft (30 to 250 cm) long. Most eat small ani¬ mals, primarily rodents, birds, and lizards. All bear live young. In hot

Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus).

JOHN H. GERARD

Aesculapian snake (Elaphe longis- sima).

ANTON THAU-BAVARIA VERLAG

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Ratzenhofer ► ray I 1593

areas rattlesnakes become nocturnal; in cold areas they hibernate in groups. Heat-sensitive organs on the sides of the head help them locate and strike their prey. A rattlesnake bite is painful and can be fatal if not treated. See also sidewinder.

Ratzenhofer, Gustav (b. July 4, 1842, Vienna—d. Oct. 8, 1904, at sea) Austrian general, philosopher, and sociologist. After a successful military career in which he attained the rank of field marshal, he devel¬ oped an interest in the social sciences, particularly social Darwinism. He believed human interaction was characterized by “absolute hostility” between ethnic groups but that the species could evolve higher forms of association through sociology. His works included The Essence and Objective of Politics, 3 vol. (1893), and Sociological Perception (1898).

Rauschenberg Vrau-shsn-.bergV Robert orig. Milton Rauschen¬ berg (b. Oct. 22, 1925, Port Arthur, Texas, U.S.) U.S. painter and graphic artist. He studied under Josef Albers. His “combine” paintings of the 1950s, incorporating objects such as soda bottles, traffic barricades, and stuffed birds, anticipated the Pop art movement. In later work, he used silkscreen and other techniques to transfer images from commercial print media and his own photographs to canvas, reinforcing the images and unifying them compositionally with bold strokes of paint. His work has roots in Dada and the ready-mades of Marcel Duchamp.

Ravana Vra-vo-noV In Hinduism, king of the demons. Ravana is depicted with 10 heads and 20 hands and flying a magic chariot. He ruled in the kingdom of Lanka, from which he had expelled his brother Kubera. His abduction of Sita and defeat by her husband, Rama, are the central events of the epic Ramayana.

The demon king is also remembered for shaking Mount Kailasa until Shiva intervened and imprisoned him beneath it for 1,000 years. The popu¬ lar annual Ram Lila festival cli¬ maxes with the defeat of Ravana and the burning of huge effigies of demons.

Ravel \ra-'vel\, (Joseph-) Mau¬ rice (b. March 7, 1875, Ciboure,

France—d. Dec. 28, 1937, Paris)

French composer. At age 14 he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire.

Completing his piano studies, he returned to study composition with Gabriel Faure, writing the important 1901) and a string quartet. In the next decade he produced some of his best-known music, including Pavane pour une infante defunte (1899), the String Quartet (1903), and the Sonatine for piano (1905). His great bal¬ let Daphnis et Chloe (1912) was commissioned by the impresario Sergey Diaghilev. Other works include the opera L ’Enfant et les sortileges (1925), the suite Le Tombeau de Couperin (1917), and the orchestral works La Valse (1920) and Bolero (1928). Careful and precise. Ravel possessed great gifts as an orchestrator, and his works are universally admired for their superb craftsmanship; he has remained the most widely popular of all French composers.

raven Any of several species (genus Corvus, crow family Corvidae) of heavy-billed, usually solitary, songbirds, once abundant throughout the Northern Hemisphere but now restricted to undisturbed areas. The com¬ mon raven (C. corax), the biggest passerine, grows to 26 in. (66 cm) long and has a wingspan of more than 4 ft (1.3 m). The dark, iridescent plum¬ age is shaggy, especially around the throat. Ravens eat rodents, insects, grain, birds’ eggs, and, in winter, carrion and refuse. Captive nestlings may learn to mimic a few words. The large nest, a crude structure of sticks, is built high on a cliff or treetop.

Ravenna Nro-'ve-noN City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 138,204), northeastern Italy. It is located inland from the Adriatic Sea, with which it is connected by a canal. It was the capital of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century ad and of the Ostrogothic kingdom and Byzantine Italy in the 6th-8th centuries. Ravenna’s art and architecture reflect a fusion of Roman forms with Byzantine mosaics and other decoration; sites include the 6th-century basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo and the octagonal

church of San Vitale. It became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 and today is an agricultural and industrial city, with industries that include petroleum and natural-gas refining.

Ravi \'ra-ve\ River River, northwestern India and northeastern Pakistan, one of the five main rivers of the Punjab. It rises in the Himalayas in Him¬ achal Pradesh state, India, and flows past Chamba, turning southwest at the boundary of Jammu and Kashmir state. It then flows to the Pakistani border and along it before entering Pakistani Punjab. In Pakistan it runs past Lahore and turns west near Kamalia, emptying into the Chenab River after a course of about 450 mi (725 km).

Rawalpindi \,ra-w3l-'pin-de\ City (pop., 1998: 1,406,214), Punjab province, northern Pakistan, southwest of Islamabad. In ancient times, the locality was included in the Achaemenian Persian Empire. The ancient city of Taxila has been identified with nearby ruins. Strategically located, it controls the routes to the Kashmir region and was the site of an impor¬ tant British military station. The former capital of Pakistan (1959-69), Rawalpindi is the headquarters of Pakistan’s army and an administrative, commercial, and industrial centre. Wheat, barley, com, and millet are the chief crops grown in the area. Mankial, south of the city, is the site of a Buddhist stupa dating to the 3rd century bc.

Rawlings, Jerry J(ohn) (b. June 22, 1947, Accra, Ghana) Ruler of Ghana (1981-2001). Of Scottish and Ghanaian descent, Rawlings, then a junior air force officer, first overthrew the government in 1979, but he yielded power to a freely elected civilian president, Hilla Limann. Two years later he ousted Limann. As Ghana’s ruler, he created workers’ coun¬ cils and established production and price controls but later abandoned these measures. His policies afforded Ghana relative political and eco¬ nomic stability. He was returned to office by election in 1996 and stepped down from the presidency in 2001.

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan orig. Marjorie Kinnan (b. Aug. 8, 1896, Washington, D.C., U.S.—d. Dec. 14, 1953, St. Augustine, Fla.) U.S. short-story writer and novelist. Rawlings worked as a journalist before moving to backwoods Florida and devoting herself to fiction. Taking her material from the people and land around her, she wrote richly atmo¬ spheric works that resemble vivid factual reporting and are noted for their magical descriptions of landscape. Her best-known novel is The Yearling (1938, Pulitzer Prize), about a boy from a hardscrabble family and the fawn he adopts. Her later works include Cross Creek (1942) and The Sojourner (1953).

Rawls, John (b. Feb. 21,1921, Baltimore, Md., U.S.—d. Nov. 24,2002, Lexington, Mass.) U.S. political philosopher. He taught at Cornell Univer¬ sity (1962-79) and later at Harvard University. He wrote primarily on political philosophy and ethics. His Theory of Justice (1971) is widely rec¬ ognized as the major work in 20th-century political philosophy. In that work and others Rawls sought to develop a conception of justice appro¬ priate to a democratic society. He believes that utilitarianism, which enjoins maximizing overall happiness, inadequately protects freedom and equality, the core liberal and democratic values. Following Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant, he appealed to the idea of a social contract: he depicted justice as the result of a hypothetical agreement among free persons acting from a position of equal right. To insure a fair, impartial agreement, Rawls situated parties to it equally by imposing a “veil of ignorance”: parties do not know any particular facts about themselves and others (e.g., their tal¬ ents, social class, wealth, or religious and other values) or even facts about history or their society. From this “original position” Rawls contends that free persons would agree to a liberal egalitarian conception of justice, or “justice as fairness.” This conception comprises two principles: (1) certain basic liberties, such as freedom of thought and association, are so important that they take precedence over other social values, such as eco¬ nomic efficiency and improving the welfare of the poor; (2) offices and positions of authority are to be open to all under conditions of equality of opportunity.

ray Any of 300-350 mostly marine species of cartilaginous fish (order Batoidei) found worldwide and clas¬ sified as ELECTRIC RAYS, SAWFISHES,

skates, and stingrays. Many species

Ravana, the 10-headed demon-king, detail from a Guler painting of the Ramayana, c. 1720; in the Cleveland Museum of Art.

COURTESY OF THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART, OHIO, GIFT OF GEORGE P. BICKFORD

piano piece Jeux d’eau (completed

Cow-nosed ray (Rhinoptera bonasus), a stingray

PAINTING BY RICHARD ELLIS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1594 I Ray ► Raymond of Penafort

are slow-moving bottom-dwellers. The gill openings and mouth are on the underside of the flattened body. Winglike pectoral fins extend along the sides of the head. All but electric rays have a long, slender tail, often with saw-edged, venomous spines, and rough, often spiny, skin. See also MANTA RAY.

Ray, James Earl (b. March 10, 1928, Alton, Ill., U.S.—d. April 23, 1998, Nashville, Tenn.) Assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray was a petty criminal who had been sentenced several times to prison; he escaped from the Missouri state prison in 1967. In Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, he shot King from the window of a rooming house as King emerged from his motel room across the street. Ray fled to Toronto, London, Lisbon, and back to London, where he was arrested on June 8. In Memphis he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Months later, he recanted his confession, without effect. Later in life, his unsuccessful pleas to have his case reopened were supported by some civil rights leaders, notably the King family.

Ray, John (b. Nov. 29, 1627, Black Notley, Essex, Eng.—d. Jan. 17, 1705, Black Notley) British naturalist and botanist. He attended Cam¬ bridge University and spent many years there as a fellow. With Francis Wil- lughby (1635-1672) he undertook a complete catalog of living things, of which he published numerous volumes. His enduring legacy to botany was the establishment of species as the ultimate unit of taxonomy. He attempted to base his systems of classification on all the structural characteristics of organisms, including internal anatomy, rather than on a single feature. By insisting on the importance of lungs and heart structure, he effectively established the class of mammals, and he divided insects according to the presence or absence of multiple metamorphoses. Coming closer to a truly natural system of taxonomy than had any of his contemporaries, Ray helped make possible Carolus Linnaeus’s later contributions.

Ray, Man See Man Ray

Ray, Nicholas orig. Raymond Nicholas Kienzle (b. Aug. 7, 1911, Galesville, Wis., U.S.—d. June 16, 1979, New York, N.Y.) U.S. film director. He studied architecture and drama and began directing plays in the mid-1930s. After working in New York with John Houseman and Elia Kazan, he followed them to Hollywood, where he directed They Live by Night (1948). Ray was praised for demonstrating a personal style in mov¬ ies such as In a Lonely Place (1950), The Lusty Men (1952), Johnny Gui¬ tar (1954), and the landmark film of youthful rebellion, Rebel Without a Cause (1955). He also directed Bigger Than Life (1956), Bitter Victory (1958), and 55 Days at Peking (1963). He later tried directing in Yugo¬ slavia and taught at the State University of New York.

Ray, Satyajit (b. May 2, 1921, Calcutta, India—d. April 23, 1992, Cal¬ cutta) Bengali-Indian film director.

After studying with Rabindranath Tagore, he became art director of an ad agency and a book illustrator. He sold all his possessions to make his first film, Pather Panchali (1955), a story of village life. With Aparajito (1956) and The World of Apu (1959), he completed the brilliant Apu Tril¬ ogy and brought Indian cinema to world attention. He later won acclaim for Devi (1960), Two Daughters (1961), The Big City (1964), The Lonely Wife (1964), The Chess Players (1977), The Home and the World (1984), and The Visi¬ tor (1990). He wrote all his own screenplays, noted for their human¬ ism and poetry, and often composed the music for his films, though his short stories and novellas became his main source of income.

ray flower See composite family

Rayburn, Sam(uel) (Taliaferro) (b. Jan. 6, 1882, Roane county, Tenn., U.S.—d. Nov. 16, 1961, Bonham, Texas) U.S. politician. He taught school in Texas before becoming a lawyer. He served in the state legis¬ lature from 1907 to 1913. In 1912 he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served for the next 48 years,

including 17 years as speaker (1940^16, 1949-53, 1955—61). A skillful tactician, he influenced the passage of much New Deal legislation and cowrote the bill enacting rural electrification. He was the long-time politi¬ cal mentor of Lyndon B. Johnson and a trusted adviser to presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy.

Rayleigh Vra-le\ (of Terling Place), John William Strutt, 3rd Baron (b. Nov. 12, 1842, Langford Grove, Essex, Eng.—d. June 30, 1919, Terling Place, Witham, Essex) English physicist. In 1873 he suc¬ ceeded to his father’s title and built a research laboratory on his estate. He taught physics at Cambridge University (1879-84) and was secretary of the Royal Society (1884-95). His research included work on electro¬ magnetism, colour, acoustics, and diffraction gratings, and his theory explaining the blue colour of the sky evolved into the Rayleigh scattering law. In 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his isola¬ tion of argon. In 1908 he became chancellor of Cambridge University. His influential Theory of Sound (1877, 1878) examines questions of vibra¬ tions and resonance of media.

Rayleigh scattering Dispersion of electromagnetic radiation by par¬ ticles with radii less than Vio the wavelength of the radiation. It is named for Baron Rayleigh, who described it in 1871. Since blue light is at the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum, it is scattered in the atmo¬ sphere much more than the longer-wavelength red light. This causes the blue colour of the sky, since the observer sees only the scattered light. The Rayleigh laws predict the variation of the intensity and the polariza¬ tion of scattered light.

Raymond IV French Raimond known as Raymond of Saint- Gi lies \sa n -'zhel\ (b. 1041 or 1042, Toulouse, county of Toulouse—d. Feb. 28, 1105, near Tripoli) Count of Toulouse (1093-1105) and marquis of Provence (1066-1105). The first western European ruler to join the First Crusade, he helped capture Antioch (1098) and Jerusalem (1099) but refused the Crusaders’ crown of Jerusalem. He also conquered and ruled Tripoli (1102-05).

Raymond VI French Raimond (b. Oct. 27, 1156—d. Aug. 1222, Toulouse, France) Count of Toulouse (1194-1222). He at first tolerated the heretical Cathari but later joined the Albigensian Crusade against them. Raymond fought the Crusaders to save his own dominions. Though he lost his title by decree of the fourth Lateran Council (1215), despite the effort of Pope Innocent III to arrange a compromise, he regained most of his lands by conquest. Twice excommunicated, he was refused Christian burial.

Raymond VII French Raimond (b. July 1197, Beaucaire, France—d. Sept. 27, 1249, Millau) Count of Toulouse (1222^-9). He helped recover lands taken from his father, Raymond VI, and negotiated a truce (1223) with land-hungry Crusaders from northern France. For failing to suppress the heretical Cathari, he was excommunicated (1226) and subjected to a French invasion. He ceded territory to France by treaty and agreed to per¬ mit the Albigensian Crusade to continue in Languedoc (1229). Allied with Henry III of England, he rebelled unsuccessfully against Louis VIII of France (1242) and was forced to accept greater French authority over Toulouse.

Raymond, Antonin (b. May 10, 1888, Kladno, Bohemia—d. Nov. 21, 1976, Langhome, Pa., U.S.) Czech-born U.S. architect. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1910. He assisted Frank Lloyd Wright in building the Impe¬ rial Hotel, Tokyo (1916). Remaining in Japan, he and his partner, Ladislav Rado, built numerous structures, mostly for Americans. One of the few Modernist architects working in Japan at the time, he influenced such Japanese architects as Yoshimura Junzo and Maekawa Kunio. Among his works were the Reader’s Digest Building, Tokyo (1951; since destroyed), and the Nagoya International School (opened 1967), a circular structure serving a flexible, progressive educational program.

Raymond of Penafort V.pan-yo-'forA, Saint Spanish Raimundo (b. c. 1185, Penafort, near Barcelona—d. Jan. 6, 1275, Barcelona; can¬ onized 1601; feast day January 7) Catalan Dominican friar influential in defining church law. He studied and taught canon law at Bologna, then returned to Barcelona, where he joined the Dominicans and wrote a manual for confessors widely used in the late Middle Ages. Appointed papal chaplain by Pope Gregory IX (1230), he was commissioned to codify the papal statues and rulings on canon law; these Decretals (1234) remained part of church law until 1917. He later organized schools of Arabic and Hebrew studies in Tunis and Murcia.

Satyajit Ray.

CAMERA PRESS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Rayonism ► Reading I 1595

Rayonism Vra-o-.ni-zonA (from Russian, Luchizm: “ray-ism”) Russian art movement founded 1912-13 by Mikhail Larionov (1881-1964) and his wife, Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962), which represented one of the first steps toward the development of abstract art in Russia. A synthesis of Cubism, Futurism, and Orphism, Rayonism was described by Larionov as “concerned with spatial forms that are obtained through the crossing of reflected rays from various objects.” It apparently ended after 1914, when its founders departed for Paris.

Rayonnant style \re-y9n-'a n \ French style (13th century) that repre¬ sents the height of Gothic architecture. During this period architects became less interested in achieving great size than in decoration, which took such forms as pinnacles, moldings, and especially window tracery. The style’s name reflects the radiating character of the rose window. Other features include the thinning of vertical supporting members, the enlarge¬ ment of windows, and the combination of the triforium gallery and clere¬ story into one large glazed area, until walls became largely undifferentiated screens of tracery, mullions, and glass. Amiens Cathedral (1220-70) is cited as its earliest manifestation. Especially fine achieve¬ ments include Notre-Dame de Paris, the church of Saint-Urbain in Troyes (founded 1262), and the extraordinary Sainte-Chapelle, Paris (consecrated 1248), Louis IX’s palace chapel. See also cathedral.

Razi Vra-ze\, al- in full Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya’ al-RazT Latin Rhazes (b. c. 865, Rayy, Persia—d. 925 or 935, Rayy) Persian alchemist and philosopher. He saw himself as the Islamic heir of Socrates in philosophy and of Hippocrates in medicine. In The Compre¬ hensive Book, he surveyed Greek, Syrian, early Arabic, and some Indian medical knowledge, adding his own comments. A number of his works were translated into Latin and other languages. One such. The Spiritual Physick of Rhazes, is a popular ethical treatise and major alchemical study. He called himself a follower of Plato but disagreed with Arabic interpret¬ ers of Plato. His theory of the composition of matter is similar to that of Democritus. He was considered one of the greatest physicians of the early Islamic world.

Razin \'ra-zyin\, Stenka orig. Stepan Timofeyevich Razin (b.

c. 1630, Zimoveyskaya-na-Donu, Russia—d. June 16, 1671, Moscow) Russian Cossack rebel. Born in the prosperous Don Cossack area, he sup¬ ported the runaway serfs from Poland and Russia who escaped into the region to find land. In 1667 he led a band of newcomers to establish an outpost on the upper Don River. They raided Russian and Persian settle¬ ments on the Caspian Sea (1667-70), acquiring great fame and wealth. He then led his Cossack anarchists on a campaign into the Volga River region, where he was joined by disaffected peasants. After seizing Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), Astrakhan, and Saratov, his force of 20,000 undisciplined rebels was defeated by the Russian army at Simbirsk. Razin was captured, tortured, and executed. He became a popular Russian folk hero and was immortalized in songs and legends.

razor clam Any of several species of marine clams (family Solenidae) common in intertidal sands and muds, particularly of temperate seas. Razor clams have narrow and elongated shells (shaped like straight razors) up to 8 in. (20 cm) long. A large active foot enables them to move rapidly up and down within their burrow and retreat quickly when dis¬ turbed. With their short siphons (tubes) they feed on particulate material in seawater. Some species can swim short distances by jetting water through their siphons.

razorback whale See fin whale

RCA Corp. Major U.S. electronics and broadcasting conglomerate that was purchased by the General Electric Co. (GE) in 1986. RCA’s subsid¬ iaries at the time of the acquisition included NBC, which is managed as a separate division within GE. RCA was founded as the Radio Corp. of America by General Electric in 1919 to acquire Marconi Wireless Tele¬ graph Co. of America, at that time the only company capable of handling commercial transatlantic radio communications. RCA founded NBC in 1926 to manage radio broadcasting operations for GE, AT&T, and West- inghouse. An antitrust suit against the three latter companies in 1932 caused RCA and its NBC unit to become independent. In 1939 RCA developed the first experimental television set, and its black-and-white sets went on the market seven years later. After consolidating most of RCA’s operations into GE’s businesses, in 1987 General Electric sold RCA’s consumer-electronics division to the French corporation Thomson-Brandt, SA (later Thomson SA). Within GE, RCA’s core products are in military and space electronics and satellite communications.

Re \'ra\ or Ra \'ra\ In ancient Egyptian religion, the creator god and god of the sun. He was believed to sail across the sky in his solar bark and at night to travel in another bark through the underworld, where he had to vanquish a serpent before he could be born again. As the creator, he rose from the ocean of chaos, creating himself and then engendering eight other gods. From the 4th dynasty, kings held the title Son of Re, and Re later became part of the throne name they adopted at accession and was appended to the names of such gods as Amon and Sebek.

reactance Measure of the opposition that an electrical circuit or a part of a circuit presents to electric current (see electrical impedance) insofar as the current is varying or alternating. Steady electric currents flowing along conductors in one direction undergo opposition called electrical resistance, but no reactance. Reactance is present in addition to resistance when con¬ ductors carry alternating current. Reactance also occurs for short intervals when direct current is changing as it approaches or departs from steady flow (e.g., when switches are closed or opened). Reactance is of two types, inductive and capacitive. Inductive reactance is associated with the vary¬ ing magnetic field that surrounds a wire or a coil carrying a current. Capacitive reactance is associated with the changing electric field between two conducting surfaces (plates) separated from each other by an insu¬ lating medium. The ohm is the unit of reactance.

reaction, heat of Amount of heat that must be added or removed dur¬ ing a chemical reaction to keep all substances involved at the same tem¬ perature. If it is positive (heat must be added), the reaction is endothermic; if it is negative (heat is given off), the reaction is exothermic. Accurate heat of reaction values are needed for proper design of equipment used in chemical processes; they are usually estimated from compiled tables of thermodynamics data (heats of formation and heats of combustion of many known materials). The activation energy is unrelated to the heat of reaction.

reaction rate Speed at which a chemical reaction proceeds, in terms of amount of product formed or amount of reactant consumed per unit of time. The reaction rate depends on the nature of the reacting substances and the type of chemical change, as well as temperature and pressure, especially if GASes are involved. In general, the reactions of ions occur very rapidly, but those in which covalent bonds are formed or broken are slower. Catalysts usually accelerate reaction rates. The prediction, mea¬ surement, and interpretation of reaction rates are subjects of the branch of chemistry known as chemical kinetics. See also mass action, law of.

read-only memory See ROM

Reade, Charles (b. June 8, 1814, near Ipsden, Oxfordshire, Eng.—d. April 11, 1884, London) English novelist and dramatist. Though trained in law and an administrator at Oxford University, he put much of his time and resources into writing and staging his melodramatic plays. His nov¬ els expose, with passionate indignation, the social injustices of his times. He is best remembered for the historical romance The Cloister and the Hearth (1861). His other novels include It Is Never Too Late to Mend (1856), attacking prison conditions; Hard Cash (1863), on the abuse of mental patients; and Put Yourself in His Place (1870), about terrorism by trade unionists.

Reader's Digest U.S.-based monthly magazine. Founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace, it was first published in 1922 as a digest of articles of topical interest and entertainment value condensed from other periodicals. From 1934 it published condensed versions of current books; later it began publishing books containing original material. Though initially conceived as an impartial journal, the Digest has tended to reflect its publishers’ generally conservative outlook. It probably has the largest circulation of any periodical in the world, appearing in dozens of editions and a wide variety of languages worldwide.

Reading Vre-diqX Town and unitary authority (pop., 2001: 143,124), county seat of Berkshire, England, west of London. Reading was a Danish encampment as early as ad 871. It was given a town charter by King Henry III in 1253; that charter was confirmed by succeeding sovereigns. Between the 12th and 16th centuries Reading was dominated by a struggle for privileges between the Benedictine abbey founded in 1121 and the emer¬ gent merchants’ guild. By the 17th century the town’s trade, notably in clothing, had begun to decline. In the 18th century the chief trade was in malt. In the city’s public gardens are the ruins of the abbey, which was dissolved by Henry VIII. The structure was destroyed during the English Civil Wars, during which time the town in general also suffered severely.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1596 I ready-made ► rebbe

In Reading Gaol, adjoining the ruins, Oscar Wilde was imprisoned, and it was there that he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol. The city is now an agricultural centre noted for the bulbs produced in its nurseries. It is the site of a university, and its industries include computer production and malting and brewing.

ready-made Everyday object selected and designated as art. The name was coined by Marcel Duchamp, whose first ready-mades included a snow shovel that he picked up on a snowy day in New York, and a wheel mounted on a stool (1913). They represented a protest against the exces¬ sive importance attached to works of art. Duchamp’s anti-aesthetic ges¬ tures made him one of the leading Dadaists of his day, and his ready¬ made concept, though widely regarded for decades as an insult to art, was adapted by such later artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, and Jasper Johns.

Reagan Vra-g9n\, Ronald W(ilson) (b. Feb. 6, 1911, Tampico, Ill., U.S.—d. June 5, 2004, Los Angeles, Calif.) 40th president of the U.S. (1981-89). He attended Eureka College and worked as a radio sports announcer before going to Hollywood in 1937. In his career as a movie actor, he appeared in more than 50 films and was twice president of the Screen Actors Guild (1947-52, 1959-60). In the mid-1950s he became a spokesman for the General Electric Co.; he hosted its television theatre program from 1954 to 1962. Having gradually changed his political affili¬ ation from liberal Democrat to conservative Republican, he was elected governor of California in 1966 and served two terms. In 1980 he defeated incumbent Pres. Jimmy Carter to become president. Shortly after taking office, he was wounded in an assassination attempt. His administration adopted policies based on supply-side economics in an effort to promote rapid economic growth and reduce the federal deficit. Congress approved many of his proposals (1981), which succeeded in lowering inflation but doubled the national debt by 1986. He began the largest peacetime mili¬ tary buildup in U.S. history; in 1983 he proposed construction of the Stra¬ tegic Defense Initiative. His administration concluded a treaty with the Soviet Union to restrict intermediate-range nuclear weapons, conducted a proxy war against Nicaragua through its support of the Contras, and invaded Grenada ostensibly to prevent the island nation from becoming a Soviet outpost. He was reelected by a large margin in 1984. Beginning in 1986, the Iran-Contra Affair temporarily weakened his presidency. Though his intellectual capacity for governing was often disparaged by his critics, his affability and artful communication skills enabled him to pursue numerous conservative policies with conspicuous success, and his tough stance toward the Soviet Union is often credited with contributing to the demise of Soviet communism. In 1994 he revealed that he had Alzheimer disease.

real and personal property Basic types of property in English common law, roughly corresponding to the division between immovables and movables in civil law. Real property consists of land, buildings, crops, W and other resources, improvements, or fixtures still attached to the land.

™ Personal property is essentially all property other than real property,

including goods, animals, money, and vehicles.

real number In mathematics, a quantity that can be expressed as a finite or infinite decimal expansion. The counting numbers, integers, ratio- Jj nal numbers, and irrational numbers are all real numbers. Real numbers are

used in measuring continuously varying quantities (e.g., size, time), in contrast to measurements that result from counting. The word real dis¬ tinguishes them from the imaginary numbers.

realism In the visual arts, an aesthetic that promotes accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favour of close observation of outward appear¬ ances. It was a dominant current in French art between 1850 and 1880. In the early 1830s the painters of the Barbizon school espoused realism in their faithful reproduction of the landscape near their village. Gustave Courbet was the first artist to proclaim and practice the realist aesthetic; his Burial at Ornans and The Stone Breakers (1849) shocked the public and critics with their frank depiction of peasants and labourers. In his satirical cari¬ catures, Honore Daumier used an energetic linear style and bold detail to criticize the immorality he saw in French society. Realism emerged in the U.S. in the work of Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins. In the 20th century German artists associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit worked in a realist style to express their disillusionment after World War I. The Depression-era movement known as Social Realism adopted a similarly harsh realism to depict the injustices of U.S. society. See also naturalism.

realism In literature, the theory or practice of fidelity to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealization of everyday life. The 18th-century works of Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smol¬ lett are among the earliest examples of realism in English literature. It was consciously adopted as an aesthetic program in France in the mid- 19th century, when interest arose in recording previously ignored aspects of contemporary life and society; Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1857) established the movement in European literature. The realist emphasis on detachment and objectivity, along with lucid but restrained social criticism, became integral to the novel in the late 19th century. The word has also been used critically to denote excessive minuteness of detail or preoccupation with trivial, sordid, or squalid subjects. See also natu¬ ralism.

realism In philosophy, any viewpoint that accords to the objects of human knowledge an existence that is independent of whether they are being perceived or thought about. In the metaphysical debate concerning universals, realism is opposed to nominalism, which denies that universals have any reality at all (except as words), and to conceptualism, which grants universals reality but only as concepts in the mind. Against ideal¬ ism and phenomenalism, realism asserts the independent existence of mate¬ rial objects and their qualities. Similarly, moral realism holds that the moral qualities of things and actions (such as being good or bad, right or wrong) belong to the things or actions themselves and are not to be explained in terms of the subject’s feelings of approval or disapproval. In opposition to conventionalism, realism holds that scientific theories are objectively true (or false) based on their correspondence (or lack of it) to an inde¬ pendently existing reality.

realpolitik Politics based on practical objectives rather than on ideals. The word does not mean “real” in the English sense but rather connotes “things”—hence a politics of adaptation to things as they are. Realpolitik thus suggests a pragmatic, no-nonsense view and a disregard for ethical considerations. In diplomacy it is often associated with relentless, though realistic, pursuit of the national interest.

reamer Rotary cutting tool of cylindrical or conical shape, used for enlarging and finishing to accurate dimensions holes that have been drilled, bored, or cored. A reamer cannot be used to start a hole. All ream¬ ers have lengthwise flutes or grooves; either the sides of the tool or the tip may be used for cutting. Reamers are made from high-carbon steel, high-speed steel, or cemented carbides.

reaper Any farm machine that cuts grain (cereal). Early reapers simply cut the crop and dropped it unbound. Modern machines include harvest¬ ers, combines (see combine harvester), and binders, which also perform other harvesting operations. See also Cyrus H. McCormick.

reason, practical See practical reason

Reaumur \ra-o-'mtEr,\ English \ 1 ra-o-'myur\, Rene-Antoine Fer- chault de (b. Feb. 28, 1683, La Rochelle, France—d. Oct. 17, 1757, Saint-Julien-du-Terroux) French physicist and entomologist. He invented the thermometric scale that bears his name (see thermometry); on the Reau¬ mur scale, 0° marks the freezing point of water and 80° marks the boil¬ ing point. He invented the opaque white glass known as Reaumur porcelain, improved techniques for making iron and steel, discovered that crayfish can regenerate lost appendages, and isolated gastric juice. His Memoirs Serving as a Natural History of Insects (1734—42), though unfin¬ ished, was a milestone in entomological history.

rebate Retroactive refund or credit given to a buyer who has purchased a product or service. Fair and equitable rebates are used simply as incen¬ tives available to all customers. So-called deferred (or exclusive- patronage) rebates are used by large vendors of perishables and consumer durable goods. To receive such a rebate, the purchaser must agree to buy certain goods or services exclusively from a particular vendor for a fixed period of time. Rebating was a common pricing tactic in the 19th century, often used by large companies to undercut competition from smaller firms. The U.S. railroad industry practiced price discrimination by granting secret rebates to important customers; the rebates granted to Standard Oil Co. helped it acquire a monopoly over the oil industry. Governments occa¬ sionally sponsor rebates on previously paid taxes such as property, income, or sales taxes. Tax rebates can be used to stimulate the economy, to return excess revenue to taxpayers, or to encourage specific actions such as energy conservation.

rebbe See rabbi

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Recamier ► rectum I 1597

Recamier Vra-kam-'yaX, Madame de orig. Jeanne-Francoise- Julie-AdelaVde Bernard in full Jearme-Francoise-Julie- AdelaYde, dame de Recamier (b. Dec. 4, 1777, Lyon, France—d. May 11, 1849, Paris) French hostess. Daughter of a prosperous banker, she married a wealthy banker and began to entertain widely. Her great charm and wit attracted to her salon most of the important political and literary figures of early 19th-century Paris, including many opponents of Napoleon, who exiled her in 1805. After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815 she returned to Paris, where in her later years Rene, viscount de Chateaubriand became her companion and the central figure in her salon. Her friend Ger¬ maine de Stael created her literary portrait in the novel Corinne.

receivership In law, state of being in the hands of a receiver, a person appointed by the court to administer, conserve, rehabilitate, or liquidate the assets of an insolvent corporation for the protection or relief of creditors. It is a legal solution to a financial difficulty; it does not necessarily entail the termination of the corporate charter. See also bankruptcy, insolvency.

Recent epoch See Holocene epoch

recession Downward trend in the business cycle characterized by a decline in production and employment, which in turn lowers household income and spending. Even though not all households and businesses experience actual declines in income, they become less certain about the future and consequently delay making large purchases or investments. Consumers buy fewer durable household goods, and businesses are less likely to purchase machinery and equipment and more likely to use up existing inventory instead of adding goods to their stock. This drop in demand leads to a corresponding fall in output and thus worsens the eco¬ nomic situation. Whether a recession develops into a severe and prolonged depression depends on a number of circumstances. Among them are the extent and quality of credit extended during the previous period of pros¬ perity, the amount of speculation permitted, the ability of government monetary and fiscal policies to reverse (or minimize) the downward trend, and the amount of excess productive capacity. Compare depression.

recessiveness Failure of one of a pair of genes (alleles) present in an individual to express itself in an observable manner because of the greater influence, or dominance, of its opposite-acting partner. Both alleles affect the same inherited characteristic, but the presence of the recessive gene cannot be determined by observation of the organism; that is, though present in the organism’s genotype (gene makeup), the recessive trait is not evident in its phenotype (observable characteristics). The term reces¬ sive is applied both to the trait in the organism having the alleles of a gene pair in the recessive condition and to the allele whose effect can be masked by another allele of the same gene.

Recife \ri-'se-fe\ Port and city (pop., 2003: city, 1,461,300; metro, area, 3,466,214), northeastern Brazil. Founded by the Portuguese in the first half of the 16th century, it was raided and sacked by British privateers in 1595. It was later occupied by the Dutch (1630-54). It has been called the Venice of Brazil because it is crossed by waterways, and areas of the city are linked by numerous bridges. Situated at the confluence of the Capibaribe and Beberibe rivers, it is one of the leading ports of Brazil, with extensive modern port facilities. It is an educational and cultural centre, with several universities and theatres.

reciprocity \ 1 re-s9- , pra-so-te\ In international trade, the granting of mutual concessions on tariffs, quotas, or other commercial restrictions. Reciprocity implies that these concessions are neither intended nor expected to be generalized to other countries with which the contracting parties have commercial treaties. Reciprocity agreements may be made between individual countries or groups of countries. Membership in the World Trade Organization to some extent precludes the signing of reci¬ procity treaties because WTO nations are obliged to grant most-favored- nation treatment to all other members.

recitative \,re-s9-t3-'tev\ Style of accompanied solo singing that imitates the rhythms and tones of speech. Representing an attempt at an ideally expressive musical text setting, which the ancient Greeks were thought to have mastered, it came into existence in tandem with opera c. 1600, the first operas being largely written in recitative. Recitative style gradually began to separate from lyrical aria style. Regular alternation of recitative with aria became the rule for both opera and cantata, and recitative became essential to the dramatic oratorio as well. It remains basic to operatic composition; the presence of recitative (as opposed to spoken dialogue) most clearly dis¬ tinguishes opera from the musical and related genres.

recognizance \ri-'kag-n3-z3nts\ In law, obligation entered into before a court or magistrate requiring the performance of an act (e.g., appear¬ ance in court), usually under penalty of a money forfeiture. The most common use of recognizance is in connection with bail in criminal cases. The accused may also be released on his “own recognizance” when no bail is required.

recombination In genetics, regrouping of the maternal and paternal genes during the formation of sex cells (gametes). Recombination occurs randomly in nature as a normal event of meiosis. It is enhanced by crossing- over (see linkage group). Recombination acts to ensure that no two daugh¬ ter cells are identical, nor are any identical in genetic content to the parent cell. Laboratory study of recombination has contributed significantly to the understanding of genetic mechanisms, allowing scientists to map chromosomes, identify linkage groups, isolate the causes of certain genetic mistakes, and manipulate recombination itself by transplanting genes from one chromosome to another. See also genetic engineering, molecular BIOLOGY.

recompression chamber See hyperbaric chamber

Reconstruction (1865-77) Period after the American Civil War in which attempts were made to solve the political, social, and economic problems arising from the readmission to the Union of the 11 Confeder¬ ate states that had seceded at or before the outbreak of war. Pres. Abra¬ ham Lincoln planned to readmit states in which at least 10% of the voters had pledged loyalty to the Union. This lenient approach was opposed by the Radical Republicans, who favoured the harsher measures passed in the Wade-Davis Bill. Pres. Andrew Johnson continued Lincoln’s moderate policies, but enactment in the South of the black codes and demand in the North for stricter legislation resulted in victories for Radical Republicans in the congressional elections of 1866. Congress then passed the Recon¬ struction Acts of 1867, which established military districts in the South and required the Southern states to accept the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. Southern resentment of the imposed state govern¬ ments, which included Republicans, carpetbaggers, and scalawags, and of the activities of the Freedmen's Bureau led to the formation of terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camelia. By the 1870s conservative Democrats again controlled most state gov¬ ernments in the South. Though Reconstruction has been seen as a period of corruption, many constructive legal and educational reforms were introduced. The Reconstruction era led to an increase in sectional bitter¬ ness, dissension regarding the rights of blacks, and the development of one-party politics in the South.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) U.S. government agency established (1932) to provide loans to railroads, banks, and busi¬ nesses. The RFC was an attempt by Pres. Herbert Hoover to counter the early effects of the Great Depression by rescuing institutions from default. It was widely used by Pres. Franklin Roosevelt in the New Deal and to finance defense plants in World War II. After the war, the RFC’s powers and functions were gradually transferred to other agencies.

Reconstructionism Movement that originated in U.S. Judaism in the 1920s. It regards Judaism only as a specific human culture, rejects the tradition of a transcendent deity who made a covenant with his chosen people, and does not accept the Bible as the inspired word of God. Its prin¬ ciples, as enunciated by Mordecai Menahem Kaplan, are based on the belief that Jews can live a distinctively Jewish cultural life without being reli¬ giously observant. Reconstructionists today number about 60,000.

record player See phonograph

recorder In music, a cylindrical, usually wooden, wind instrument with fingerholes. As a Apple (duct) flute, its rather soft tones are produced by air blown against the sharp edge of an opening in the tube. The large recorder family includes instruments ranging from the sopranino to the contrabass. The recorder emerged in the 14th century and was widely used in ensembles and orchestras in the late Renaissance and throughout the Baroque era. Displaced by the transverse flute after the mid-18th century, it was revived in the 20th century.

rectum End segment of the large intestine (see digestion) in which feces accumulate just prior to discharge. It is 5-6 in. (13-15 cm) long and lined with mucous membrane. One set of muscles separates it from the anal canal; another shortens it to expel feces. The rectal walls distend as feces enter, which stimulates the urge for defecation.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1598 I recycling ► Red River Indian War

recycling or materials salvage Recovery and reuse of materials from consumed products. The main motives for recycling have been the increasing scarcity and cost of natural resources (including oil, gas, coal, mineral ores, and trees) and the pollution of air (see air pollution), water (see water pollution), and land by waste materials. There are two types of recycling, internal and external. Internal recycling is the reuse in a manu¬ facturing process of materials that are a waste product of that process, and is common in the metals industry (see scrap metal). External recycling is the reclaiming of materials from a product that is worn out or no longer useful; an example is the collection of old newspapers and magazines for the manufacture of newsprint or other paper products.

Red Army Army of the Soviet Union. Formed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, its first civilian leader was Leon Trotsky, who proved a brilliant strategist and administrator. Formed of workers and peasants, it initially lacked an officers’ corps, and Trotsky was forced to mobilize officers of the former imperial army until a new, politically reli¬ able corps could be trained. The Communist Party placed commissars in all army units to ensure political orthodoxy. Joseph Stalin purged the mili¬ tary leadership in 1937, leaving the army demoralized and unprepared for the German surprise attack in 1941. It recovered sufficiently by 1945 to have forces numbering more than 11 million, surpassed in strength only by the U.S. Army. In 1946 it was renamed the Soviet Army. In 1960 the commissars’ duties were transferred to army officers. See also Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Red Army Faction See Baader-Meinhof Gang red blood cell See erythrocyte

Red Brigades Italian Brigate Rosse Extreme left-wing terrorist organization in Italy. Its self-proclaimed aim was to undermine the Ital¬ ian state and pave the way for a Marxist upheaval led by a “revolution¬ ary proletariat.” Reputedly founded by Renato Curcio (b. 1945), it began carrying out violent acts with firebombings (1970), escalating to kidnap¬ pings (1971) and murders (1974), most notably that of Aldo Moro (1978). At its height, it probably had 400 to 500 full-time members, perhaps 1,000 sporadic members, and a few thousand supporters. Arrest and imprison¬ ment of many leaders and ordinary members greatly weakened the orga¬ nization in the 1980s. However, a group calling itself the Red Brigades claimed responsibility for several violent attacks in the 1990s and into the 21st century.

Red Cloud orig. Mahpiua Luta (b. 1822, on the Platte River, Nebraska Territory, U.S.—d. Dec. 10, 1909, Pine Ridge Agency, S.D.) American Indian leader. The principal chief of the Oglala Teton Dakota (Sioux), he led the opposition of both the Sioux and the Cheyenne to the U.S. government’s development of the Bozeman Trail to goldfields in the Montana Territory (1865-67). Relentlessly attacking workers along the route from Fort Laramie (in modern Wyoming) to Montana, he refused offers to negotiate until the U.S. agreed to halt the project, whereupon he laid down his arms and allowed himself to be settled on the Red Cloud Agency in Nebraska.

Red Cross officially International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent formerly International Red Cross

Humanitarian agency with national affiliates worldwide. Established for the care of victims of battle, it now aids in the general prevention and relief of human suffering. It arose out of the work of Jean-Henri Dunant, who proposed the formation of voluntary relief societies in all countries, the first of which came into being in 1864. The name Red Crescent, adopted in 1906 at the insistence of the Ottoman Empire, is used in Mus¬ lim countries. In peacetime, the Red Cross aids victims of natural disas¬ ters, maintains blood banks, and provides supplementary health care services. In wartime, it serves as an intermediary between belligerents and visits prisoner-of-war camps to provide relief supplies, deliver mail, and transmit information between prisoners and their relatives. Its operating principles are humanity, impartiality, and neutrality. Its headquarters are in Geneva. Individual national organizations run community programs and coordinate natural-disaster relief efforts. The American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton in 1881 and first chartered by Congress in 1900; it runs the world’s largest blood-donor service. In 1901 Dunant received the first Nobel Prize for Peace; the Red Cross itself received the prize in 1917, 1944, and 1963.

red deer Species of deer (Cervus elaphus), sometimes called elk, native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It is found in woodlands and hunted

for sport and food. Red deer live in sexually segregated herds except in the breeding season, when males (harts) fight for harems of females (hinds). Red deer stand about 4 ft (1.2 m) high at the shoulder. The coat is reddish brown, with lighter underparts and a light rump. The hart has long, regularly branched antlers bearing 10 or more tines. There are sev¬ eral endangered subspecies. See also wapiti.

red elm See slippery elm

Red Eyebrows Chinese peasant band that formed in response to the unrest and civil war following the floods and famines that accompanied disastrous changes in the course of the Huang He (Yellow River) between ad 2 and 11. They painted their faces to look like demons, and their leader spoke through mediums. In ad 23 their forces were involved in the over¬ throw of Wang Mang, the usurper whose reign had interrupted the Han DYNASTY.

red-figure pottery Type of Greek 6th to the late 4th century bc. Devel¬ oped in Athens c. 530 bc, the red- figure pottery quickly overtook the older black-figure pottery as the pre¬ ferred style of vase painting. In red- figure technique, the background was painted black, and the outline details on the figures were also painted (rather than incised) in black, but the rest of each figure was unpainted and so retained the orange-red colour of the natural vase. By comparison with incising, the painting of the details allowed more flexibility in rendering human form, movements, expressions, and perspective. Since most of the orna¬ mentation was narrative, such tech¬ nical advantages were of utmost importance.

red fox or common fox Either of two fox species: Vulpes vulpes, found throughout Europe, temperate Asia, and northern Africa, and V. fulva of North America. It has a red¬ dish brown coat; the tail is white-tipped, and the ears and legs are black. Red foxes are 36-42 in. (90-105 cm) long, including the 15-in. (38-cm) tail; they stand about 16 in. (40 cm) tall and weigh about 15 lb (7 kg). They eat small mammals, eggs, fruit, and birds. They are hunted for sport and for their fur and are raised commercially for pelts. North American red foxes exhibit black and silver colour phases.

Red Guards Paramilitary units of radical university and high-school students formed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Responding in 1966 to Mao Zedong’s call to revitalize the revolutionary spirit of the Chi¬ nese Communist Party, they went so far as to attempt to purge the country of its pre-Communist culture. With a membership in the millions, they attacked and persecuted local party leaders, schoolteachers, and other intellectuals. By early 1967 they had overthrown party authorities in many localities. Internal strife ensued as different units argued over which among them best represented Maoism. In 1968 their disruption of indus¬ trial production and urban life led the government to redirect them to the countryside, where the movement gradually subsided.

Red River Chinese Yuan Chiang \'ywan-'jyaq\ Vietnamese Song Hong Vsoq-'hoqV River, Southeast Asia. It rises in central Yunnan prov¬ ince, southern China, and flows southeast across northern Vietnam, past Hanoi, into the Gulf of Tonkin. The principal river of northern Vietnam, it is about 500 mi (805 km) long and has a wide, fertile delta east of Hanoi.

Red River River, south-central U.S. It rises in the high plains of east¬ ern New Mexico and flows southeast across Texas and Louisiana to a point northwest of Baton Rouge, where it enters the Atchafalaya River. It is 1,290 mi (2,080 km) long and forms a part of Texas’s borders with Oklahoma and Arkansas. In Texas it was the site of the Red River Indian War (1874).

Red River Indian War (1874-75) Uprising of Indian warriors from reservation tribes (Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Kataka). After settlement of southwestern tribes on reservations in Oklahoma and

pottery that flourished from the late

Athenian red-figure cup, detail of a bearded reveler by the Brygos Painter, c. 490 bc; in the Louvre, Paris

J.E. BULLOZ

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Red River of the North ► Redon I 1599

Texas (1867), discontented braves broke out repeatedly to raid white trav¬ elers and settlers. An attack in 1874 killed 60 Texans. Federal troops under William T. Sherman converged on Indians concentrated in the Red River val¬ ley of Texas. Indian resistance forced 14 pitched battles with U.S. troops before the Indians’ eventual surrender and return to the reservations.

Red River of the North River, northern U.S. and southern Canada. It flows north, forming the Minnesota-North Dakota boundary, before entering Manitoba and emptying into Lake Winnipeg after a course of 545 mi (877 km). It was explored in 1732-33 by the French voyageur Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Verendrye. The river, named after the red¬ dish brown silt it carries, was a transportation link between Lake Win¬ nipeg and the Mississippi River system. The Red River Settlement, an agricultural colony, was founded in 1811 near Winnipeg. Its fertile val¬ ley produces cereals, potatoes, and sugar beets and supports cattle rais¬ ing.

red salmon See sockeye salmon

Red Sea Narrow inland sea between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. It extends southeast from Suez, Egypt, for about 1,200 mi (1,930 km) to the Strait of Mandeb, which connects with the Gulf of Aden and then with the Arabian Sea. It separates the coasts of Egypt, The Sudan, and Eritrea from those of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It contains some of the world’s warmest and saltiest seawater. With its connection to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, it is one of the most heavily traveled waterways in the world, carrying traffic between Europe and Asia. Its name is derived from the colour changes observed in its waters.

red soil Any of a group of soils that develop in a warm, temperate, moist climate under deciduous or mixed forests and that have thin organic and organic-mineral layers overlying a yellowish-brown leached layer resting on an illuvial (see illuviation) red layer. Red soils generally form from iron-rich sedimentary rock. They are usually poor growing soils, low in nutrients and humus and difficult to cultivate.

red spider See spider mite

Red Square Large public square, central Moscow. It lies north of the Moskva River, adjacent to the Kremlin, and covers some 18 acres (7.3 hectares). Dating from the late 15th century, it has long been a busy mar¬ ket area as well as a focal point in Russian history as the scene of execu¬ tions, demonstrations, riots, and parades. Located around it are the State Historical Museum (1875-81), the nine-towered Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed (1554-60), the former state department store GUM, and the tomb of Vladimir Ilich Lenin. The square and Kremlin were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.

red tide Discoloration of seawater caused by dinoflagellates during peri¬ odic blooms (population increases). Toxic substances released by these organisms into the water may be lethal to fish and other marine life, and they irritate the human respiratory system. Coastal resorts sometimes close when breaking waves release the toxic substances into the air. The causes of red tide are uncertain; it may require the confluence of several natural phenomena, in which human influence may or may not play a part.

Red Turbans Peasant rebel movement of the mid-14th century that flourished in northern China at the end of the Yuan dynasty (1206-1368). The Red Turbans, whose leader was regarded as an incarnation of the bodhisattva Maitreya, were opposed to alien Mongol rule; their movement gained momentum from the famine that resulted from crop failures and floods in the 1330s. Their maraud¬ ing, which began in the 1350s, took them as far as Korea, where their incursions contributed to the down¬ fall of the Koryo dynasty. Though their rebellion was put down, rival rebel forces under Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-98) toppled the Yuan dynasty and founded the Ming. See also Hongwu emperor.

redbird See cardinal

redbud Any of the shrubs or small trees that make up the genus Cercis

(family Leguminosae), native to Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) North America, southern Europe, kenneth and brenda formanek/eb inc. and Asia, and widely planted for

their showy early-spring flowers and interesting branch patterns. Clusters of small, purplish-pink flowers appear on old stems and branches before the leaves unfurl. The heart-shaped to roundish leaves quickly turn from bronzy to bright green, then to yellow in fall. The eastern redbud (C. canadensis ) is the hardiest species.

redfish or rosefish or ocean perch Commercially important food fish ( Sebastes marinus) of the scorpion fish family (Scorpaenidae), found in the Atlantic along European and North American coasts. It has a large mouth, large eyes, and spines on its head and cheeks. It grows to about 40 in. (1 m) long. Related species include S. owstoni, a food fish of the Orient, and the Norway haddock ( S. viviparus) of Europe. Both are red and grow to about 10 in. (25 cm) long.

Redford (Jr.), (Charles) Robert (b. Aug. 18, 1937, Santa Monica, Calif., U.S.) U.S. film actor and director. He made his Broadway debut in 1959 and won acclaim in Barefoot in the Park (1963; film, 1967). The blond, appealing Redford began acting in films in the mid-1960s. He appeared with Paul Newman in the hits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973) and also starred in The Candidate (1972), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), All the President’s Men (1976), The Natural (1984), Out of Africa (1985), and Indecent Proposal (1993). His directo¬ rial debut, Ordinary People (1980, Academy Award), was followed by The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), A River Runs Through It (1992), Quiz Show (1994), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). He received an honorary Academy Award in 2001. In 1980 he founded the Sundance Institute to sponsor young filmmakers’ works, and by the 1990s its film festival was the major showcase for U.S. inde¬ pendent films.

Redgrave, Sir Michael (Scudamore) (b. March 20, 1908, Bris¬ tol, Gloucestershire, Eng.—d. March 21, 1985, Denham, Buckingham¬ shire) British actor. He made his stage debut in 1934 and acted with the Old Vic and the National Theatre in classic roles from William Shake¬ speare, Henrik Ibsen, and Anton Chekhov and in modem works such as Family Reunion (1939) and Tiger at the Gate (1955). Noted for his refined good looks and expressive voice, he began his film career in The Lady Vanishes (1938) and continued with roles in Dead of Night (1945), Mourn¬ ing Becomes Electra (1947), and The Browning Version (1951).

Redgrave, Vanessa (b. Jan. 30, 1937, London, Eng.) British actress. The daughter of actor Michael Redgrave, she made her London stage debut in 1958 and won praise as Rosalind in As You Like 7/ (1961). Her perfor¬ mances in such movies as Blow-Up (1966), Camelot (1967), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), and Julia (1977, Academy Award) won her critical adu¬ lation. Though criticized by some for her left-wing political activism, especially on behalf of Palestinians, she continued to win acclaim for her work on stage and screen. Her later films included The Bostonians (1984), Howards End (1992), and Mrs. Dalloway (1998).

Redi Vre-de\, Francesco (b. Feb. 19, 1626, Arezzo, Italy—d. March 1, 1697, Pisa) Italian physician and poet. While working as physician to the dukes of Tuscany, he demonstrated in 1668, in one of the first bio¬ logical experiments with proper controls, that the presence of maggots in rotting meat does not result from spontaneous generation. Redi set up a series of flasks containing different meats; half were sealed, half open. He repeated the experiment, replacing the sealed flasks with gauze-covered flasks. Though the meat in all the flasks rotted, Redi found that only in the uncovered flasks, which flies had entered freely, did the meat contain maggots. As a poet, he is known chiefly for his “Bacco in Toscana”

(1685).

Redon \r3-'do n \, Odilon (b. April 20, 1840, Bordeaux, Fr.—d. July 6, 1916, Paris) French painter, lithogra¬ pher, and etcher. He studied under Jean-Leon Gerome and learned lithog¬ raphy under Henri Fantin-Latour. He came to be associated with the Sym¬ bolist painters. His oils and pastels, chiefly still lifes with flowers, won him admiration as a colourist from

Odilon Redon, self-portrait, 1904; in a private collection.

ARCHIVES PHOTOGRAPHIQUES, PARIS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1600 I Redoute ► reed instrument

Henri Matisse and other painters. His prints (nearly 200 in all), which explore fantastic, often macabre themes, foreshadowed Surrealism and Dada.

Redoute \r9-du-'ta\, Pierre Joseph (b. July 10, 1759, Saint-Hubert, Luxembourg—d. June 20, 1840, Paris, France) French botanical painter. He became a favoured artist at the court of France, patronized by kings from Louis XVI to Louis- Philippe. His delicate botanical prints were not only framed as pictures but also used for china patterns. His Les Liliacees (1802-15) contained 500 plates of lilies. However, roses became his spe¬ cialty; Les Roses (1817-21) is considered his finest series, and its classic images are still widely reproduced.

redox See oxidation-reduction

redshift Displacement of the spectrum of an astronomical object toward longer wavelengths (visible light shifts toward the red end of the spec¬ trum). In 1929 Edwin Hubble reported that distant galaxies had redshifts proportionate to their distances (see Hubble's constant). Since redshifts can be caused by motion of an object away from the observer (the Doppler effect), Hubble concluded that all galaxies are receding from each other. This became the cornerstone of theories of an expanding universe.

redstart Any of about 11 species of Old World chat-thrushes (see chat) in the genus Phoenicurus (family Turdidae) or about 12 New World species of wood warblers (family Parulidae) of similar appearance and behaviour. Old World redstarts have a red tail, which they constantly flit or shiver. They are about 6 in. (14 cm) long. The male common redstart (P. phoenicurus) is gray, with a black face and throat and reddish breast.

New World redstarts (genera Seto- phaga and Myioborus) are usually strikingly marked with black, white, and red.

reduction Any of a class of chemi¬ cal reactions in which the number of electrons associated with an atom or group of atoms is increased. The electrons taken up by the substance reduced are supplied by another substance, often hydrogen (H 2 ), which is thereby oxidized. See also oxidation-reduction.

redwood or sequoia Coniferous evergreen timber tree ( Sequoia sem- pervirens) of the family Taxodiaceae, found in the fog belt of west-coastal North America. It grows in the coastal range from southwestern Oregon to central California at elevations up to 3,300 ft (1,000 m). The genus name commemorates the Cherokee Indian Sequoyah. The redwood is sometimes called coast redwood to distinguish it from the Sierra redwood (or big tree) and the Japanese redwood (or Japanese cedar). Redwoods are the tallest living trees, often exceeding 300 ft (90 m) in height; one has reached 368 ft (112 m). Typical trunk diameters are 10-20 ft (3-6 m) or more. The redwood tree takes 400-500 years to reach maturity; some are known to be more than 1,500 years old. As the tree ages, the lower limbs fall away, leaving a columnar trunk. Redwood timber has been used for furniture, shingles, fence posts, paneling, and fine wood objects. Today many of the remaining redwood stands are protected (see Redwood National Park; Sequoia National Park). See also dawn redwood.

Redwood National Park National park, northwestern comer of California, U.S. It was established in 1968, expanded in 1978, and des¬ ignated a World Heritage site in 1980. It preserves virgin groves of ancient redwood trees, including the world’s tallest, 367.8 ft (112.1 m) high. It also includes 40 mi (65 km) of scenic Pacific coastline. It covers an area of 172 sq mi (445 sq km), including land in three state parks.

reed In botany, any of several species of large aquatic grasses, especially the four species in the genus Phragmites (family Poaceae, or Gramineae). The common, or water, reed (P. australis ) occurs along the margins of lakes, fens, marshes, and streams from the Arctic to the tropics. It is a broad-leaved grass, about 5-15 ft (1.5-5 m) tall, with feathery flower clus¬ ters and stiff, smooth stems. Bur reed (genus Sparganium) and reed mace (genus Typha ) are plants of other families. Dried reed stems have been used for millennia as thatching and construction material, in basketry, for arrows and pens, and in musical instruments (see reed instruments).

Reed/ Sir Carol (b. Dec. 30, 1906, London, Eng.—d. April 25, 1976, London) British film director. He made his stage debut as an actor in 1924 and as a director in 1927, staging Edgar Wallace’s detective thrillers. He began directing films in 1935, winning praise for The Stars Look Down (1939), Night Train (1940), and the wartime semidocumentary The True Glory (1945). Noted for his technical mastery of the suspense-thriller genre, he had great success with Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), and the classic The Third Man (1949). His later films include The Key (1958), Our Man in Havana (1959), and Oliver! (1968, Academy Award). He was the first British film director to be knighted.

Reed, John (b. Oct. 22, 1887, Portland, Ore., U.S.—d. Oct. 19, 1920, Moscow, Russia) U.S. journalist. He attended Harvard University and began writing for the radical socialist journal The Masses in 1913. He covered the revolutionary fighting in Mexico (1914) and was frequently arrested for leading labour strikes. A war correspondent during World War I, he became a close friend of Vladimir Lenin and witnessed the Russian Revolution of 1917, described in his book Ten Days That Shook the World (1919). He became head of the U.S. Communist Labor Party; indicted for sedition, he escaped to the Soviet Union, where he died of typhus and was buried beside the Kremlin wall.

Reed, Thomas B(rackett) (b. Oct. 18, 1839, Portland, Maine, U.S.—d. Dec. 7, 1902, Washington, D.C.) U.S. politician. He served in the Maine legislature and was elected to the U.S. House of Representa¬ tives (1877-99). As speaker of the House (1889-91, 1895-99) he intro¬ duced procedural changes that strengthened legislative control by the majority party and increased the power of the speaker and the Rules Committee. The Reed Rules were attacked by opponents, who called Reed “Czar Reed” for his vigorous promotion of their passage. Ten years later the speaker’s powers were reduced.

Reed, Walter (b. Sept. 13. 1851. Belroi, Va„ U.S.—d. Nov. 22, 1902, Washington, D.C.) U.S. pathologist and bacteriologist. He received a medical degree at age 18 from the University of Virginia and entered the Army Medical Corps in 1875. He investigated the spread of typhoid fever in military camps during the Spanish-American War and was later curator of the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C. Yel¬ low fever was believed to be spread by bedding and other articles, but Carlos Finlay had theorized in 1886 that it was carried by insects, and Reed’s team ruled out a bacterium suspected as the cause and found pat¬ terns of spread that supported the insect theory. Controlled experi¬ ments proved transmission by mos¬ quito bite, and in 1901 efforts to combat an outbreak in Havana suc¬ ceeded within 90 days.

Reed, Willis (b. June 25, 1942, Hico, La., U.S.) U.S. basketball player. Drafted by the New York Knicks in 1964, he averaged 19.5 points in his first season and was named Rookie of the Year. He led the Knicks to the NBA title in 1970 and that year became the only player ever to win the Most Valuable Player award for the regular season, the championships, and the All-Star game. After retiring in 1974 he coached the Knicks (1977-79) and other teams.

reed instrument Any musical wind instrument that sounds when the player’s breath or air from a wind chamber causes a reed (a thin blade of cane or metal) to vibrate, thereby setting up a sound wave in an enclosed air column or in the open air. Reed pipes have single or double reeds. A double reed, as in the oboe or bassoon, consists of two cane blades tied together that beat against each other. A single reed may hit against a frame (beating reeds), as in the clarinet or saxophone, or it may vibrate freely through a closely fitting frame (free reeds), as in a harmonica or accor¬ dion. Beating reeds in woodwind instruments depend on the pipe’s sound¬ ing length (as determined by the fingering) to determine the pitch. Free reeds have their own single pitch, determined by their thickness and length. See also English horn; shawm.

Common, or American, redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)

HAL H. HARRISON FROM GRANT HEILMAN

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reed organ ► Reformed church I 1601

reed organ See harmonium

Reeds, Plain of Vietnamese Dong Thap Muoi Vdoq-'tap-'mwoiV Low, swampy region, a northwestern extension of the Mekong River delta, southern Vietnam and eastern Cambodia. It has been partially reclaimed by a levee and drainage system.

reef, coral See coral reef

Ref ah \re-'fa\ Parly or Welfare Parly Turkish political party noted for its Islamic orientation. It was founded in 1983 by Necmettin Erbakan. After doing well in local elections in the early 1990s, it won nearly one- third of the seats (the largest single bloc) in the 1995 national legislative elections, becoming the first religious party in Turkey to win a general election. It took office in 1996 at the head of a new coalition after a centre-right coalition formed to oppose it collapsed after a few months. The party’s pro-Islamist policies brought it into conflict with the army and other secular elements in the country, and it left power in 1997. It was subsequently banned.

reference frame or frame of reference Coordinate system that allows description of time and position of points relative to a body. The axes, or lines, emanate from a position called the origin. As a point moves, its velocity can be described in terms of changes in displacement and direction. Reference frames are chosen arbitrarily. For example, if a per¬ son is sitting in a moving train, the description of the person’s motion depends on the chosen frame of reference. If the frame of reference is the train, the person is considered to be not moving relative to the train; if the frame of reference is the Earth, the person is moving relative to the Earth.

referendum and initiative Electoral devices by which voters express their wishes regarding government policy or proposed legislation. Obligatory referenda are those required by law. Optional referenda are put on the ballot when a sufficient number of voters sign a petition demand¬ ing that a law passed by the legislature be ratified by the people. Obliga¬ tory and optional referenda should be distinguished from the voluntary referenda that legislatures submit to voters to decide an issue or to test public opinion. Initiatives are used to invoke a popular vote on a pro¬ posed law or constitutional amendment. Direct initiatives are submitted directly to the public after approval by a required number of voters; indi¬ rect initiatives are submitted to the legislature. Switzerland has held about half the world’s national referenda. Referenda also are common at the local and state level in the U.S. In the late 20th century, referenda were employed more frequently, particularly in Europe, to decide public policy on voting systems, treaties and peace agreements (e.g., the Maastricht Treaty), and social issues. See also plebiscite.

referential opacity See intentionality

reflection Change in the direction of propagation of a wave that strikes a boundary between different media through which it cannot pass. When a wave strikes such a boundary it bounces back, or is reflected, just as a ball bounces off the floor. The angle of incidence is the angle between the path of the wave and a line perpendicular to the boundary. The angle of reflection is the angle between the same line and the path of the reflected wave. All reflected waves obey the law of reflection, which states that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. The reflectivity of a material is the fraction of energy of the oncoming wave that is reflected by it.

reflex In biology, an automatic and inborn response to a stimulus that involves a nerve impulse passing from a sensory nerve cell to a muscle or gland without reaching the level of consciousness. Simple reflexes include sucking, swallowing, blinking, scratching, and the knee jerk. Most reflexes consist of complex patterns of many unconsciously coordinated muscular actions that form the basis of much instinctive behavior in ani¬ mals. Examples include walking, standing, the cat’s righting reflex, and basic sexual acts.

Reform Bill of 1832 British parliamentary act that expanded the elec¬ torate. It transferred voting privileges from the small rural boroughs con¬ trolled by the nobility and gentry to the heavily populated but underrepresented industrial towns. Conceived by Prime Minister Earl Grey and introduced by Earl Russell, it passed in the House of Commons three times but was opposed by the House of Lords until Grey’s threat to create 50 new liberal peers (enough to carry the bill) finally brought their

agreement. The act redistributed seats in the Commons and lowered the electoral qualifications to allow voting by small property owners (much of the middle class).

Reform Bill of 1867 British parliamentary act that extended the vote to many workingmen in the towns and cities, creating a major working- class constituency for the first time. It was largely conceived by Benjamin Disraeli, who hoped to expand his base of potential supporters.

Reform Bill of 1884-85 British parliamentary act that gave the vote to agricultural workers. In 1885 the Redistribution Act equalized repre¬ sentation on the basis of 50,000 voters for each member of parliament. Together the two acts tripled the electorate and prepared the way for uni¬ versal male suffrage.

Reform Judaism Religious movement that has modified or abandoned many traditional Jewish beliefs and practices in an effort to adapt Juda¬ ism to the modern world. It originated in Germany in 1809 and spread to the U.S. in the 1840s under the leadership of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise. Reform Judaism permits men and women to sit together in the synagogue, incorporates choir and organ music in the service, holds a confirmation ceremony for girls parallel to the boys’ Bar Mitzvah, and does not observe daily public worship, strict dietary laws, or the restriction of normal activi¬ ties on the Sabbath. Its principles, initially enunciated in the Pittsburgh Platform (1885), were revised in the Columbus Platform (1937) to support traditional customs and ceremonies and the liturgical use of Hebrew. The Reform movement continues to move toward Orthodox Judaism without embracing all its strictures.

Reform Party Political movement in Canada in the 1830s and ’40s. Reformers in Upper Canada (later Ontario) led by Robert Baldwin urged that provincial governments be made accountable to elected legislative assemblies (“responsible government”). An extremist group led by Wil¬ liam L. Mackenzie opposed the government in the rebellion of 1837. Reformers in Lower Canada (later Quebec) joined Louis Papineau and his Patriote Party. Reform Party candidates were elected premier (1842-43, 1848-54) in the province of Canada (union of Upper and Lower Canada). In the 1850s the party split between a moderate group, which allied with John Macdonald’s Progressive Conservative Party, and a radical faction, the Clear Grits, from which the Liberal Party emerged.

Reforma, La (1854-76) Liberal political and social revolution in Mexico under the principal leadership of Benito Juarez. It began with the removal of the dictator Antonio Santa Anna and went on to abolish spe¬ cial privileges of the church and the military, confiscate church lands, suppress monasteries, institute civil marriage, establish a liberal federal¬ ist constitution, and place the army under civilian control. Confiscated church property was to be allocated to the landless, but this policy proved to be La Reforma’s outstanding failure; in fact, the number and wealth of large landholders increased. La Reforma came to a close when Porfirio Diaz seized power in 1876.

Reformation or Protestant Reformation Break with Roman Catholicism and the establishment of Protestant churches in the 16th cen¬ tury. Though reformers such as Jan Hus and John Wycliffe attacked abuses in the Roman Catholic church in the late medieval period, the Reforma¬ tion is usually dated from 1517, when, according to tradition, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the church door in Wittenberg. Vari¬ ous Protestant denominations were soon founded by more radical reform¬ ers, such as Huldrych Zwingli and the Anabaptists. John Calvin established a theocracy in Geneva after his conversion to the Protestant cause. The Reformation spread to other European countries and soon dominated northern Europe. Spain and Italy remained resistant to Protestantism and became centres of the Counter-Reformation. In England, where Henry VIII founded the Church of England in 1534, the Reformation’s roots were primarily political rather than religious, motivated by the pope’s refusal to grant Henry a divorce. In Scotland the Calvinist John Knox led in the establishment of the Presbyterian church (see Presbyterianism).

Reformed church Any of several Protestant groups strongly influ¬ enced by Calvinism. They are often called by national names (Swiss Reformed, Dutch Reformed, etc.). The name was originally used by all the Protestant churches that arose out of the 16th-century Reformation but was later confined to the Calvinistic churches of continental Europe, most of which use a Presbyterian form of church government. The Calvinistic churches of the British Isles became known as Presbyterian churches (see Presbyterianism).

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1602 I refraction ► Reggio di Calabria

refraction Change in direction of a wave as it leaves one medium and enters another. Waves, such as sound and light waves, travel at different speeds in different media. When a wave enters a new medium at an angle of less than 90°, the change in speed occurs sooner on one side of the wave than on the other, causing the wave to bend, or refract. When water waves approach shallower water at an angle, they bend and become par¬ allel to the shore. Refraction explains the apparent bending of a pencil when it is partly immersed in water and viewed from above the surface. It also causes the optical illusion of the mirage.

refractory Material that is not deformed or damaged by high tempera¬ tures, used to make crucibles, incinerators, insulation, and furnaces, particu¬ larly metallurgical furnaces. Refractories are produced in several forms: molded bricks of various shapes, bulk granular materials, plastic mixtures consisting of moistened aggregates that are rammed into place, castables composed of dry aggregates and a binder that can be mixed with water and poured like concrete, and mortars and cements for laying brickwork.

refrigeration Process of removing heat from an enclosed space or from a substance in order to lower the temperature. In industrialized nations and prosperous regions in the developing world, refrigeration is used chiefly to store foodstuffs at low temperatures, thus inhibiting the destruc¬ tive action of bacteria, yeasts, and molds. Many perishable products can be frozen, permitting them to be kept for months and even years with little loss in nutrition or flavour or change in appearance. See also air- conditioning; cooling system; heat exchanger.

Components of a refrigerator. A compressor pressurizes the refrigerant gas, heating it and forcing it through the system. The gas cools and liquefies in the condenser, giving up its heat to the outside air. The liquid's pressure is lowered when it passes through an expansion valve, and there is an associated further drop in tempera¬ ture. The cold liquid then passes into the evaporator coils, where heat drawn from the warmer refrigerator compartment causes it to vaporize. The gas is then returned to the compressor to repeat the cycle.

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refugee Person involuntarily displaced from his or her homeland. Until the late 19th century and the emergence of fixed and closed national boundaries, refugees were always absorbed by neighbouring countries. Later, immigration restrictions and increasing numbers of refugees neces¬

sitated special action to aid them. In 1921 Fridtjof Nansen created a League of Nations Passport to allow refugees to move freely across national boundaries. Refugee status at that time was accorded only if the migrant’s departure was involuntary and asylum was sought in another country. In 1938 the definition of refugee was expanded to include per¬ sons with a well-founded fear of persecution because of ethnicity, reli¬ gion, nationality, group membership, or political opinion. Later the definition was expanded again to include persons who have fled from their homes to other places in their own countries. Refugee status ceases to apply when the migrant either is resettled or returns home. At the begin¬ ning of the 21st century there were some 16 million refugees, including nearly 4 million Palestinians; much of the rest of the world’s refugees were in Asia (particularly Afghanistan) and Africa, though conflict in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere in post-Cold War Europe significantly increased the number of refugees in those regions. See also International Refugee Organization; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Refuses, Salon des See Salon des Refuses

Regence style \ra-‘zha n s\ French style in the decorative arts that devel¬ oped c. 1710-1730, when Philippe II, due d’Orleans, was regent of France. It marks the transition from the massive rectilinear forms of fur¬ niture in the Louis XIV style to the Rococo forms of Louis XV style. In reac¬ tion against the pomposity of Louis XIV’s court, smaller, more intimate rooms replaced formal state apartments and called for a more graceful style. The delicately styled Regence furniture replaced heavy, carved orna¬ mentation with flat, curving motifs, often foliage and bouquets framed by flowing ribbons and bows. Walnut, rosewood, and mahogany supplied rich but tasteful contrasts in veneering. Intricate tracery in brass and tor¬ toiseshell marquetry on ebony was adapted to the new taste. The com¬ mode and writing table were introduced during this period.

Regency style Style in the decorative arts and architecture produced in England during the regency (1811-20) and reign (1820-30) of George IV. Designers borrowed both structural and ornamental elements from Greek and Roman antiquity. Egyptian motifs, inspired by Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign of 1798, became part of the Regency fashion. A resur¬ gence of a taste for chinoiserie is seen in imitation bamboo and in “japanned” lacquerwork. The prince’s taste for French furniture popular¬ ized pieces ornamented with brass marquetry in the French style. Orna¬ mentation relied on rich contrasts of exotic wood veneers and application of metal or painting rather than extensive carving.

Reger Vra-gor\, (Johann Baptist Joseph) Max(imilian) (b.

March 19, 1873, Brand, Bavaria, Ger.—d. May 11, 1916, Leipzig) Ger¬ man composer and organist. From 1890 to 1893 he studied at Sonder- shausen and Wiesbaden and taught piano, organ, and theory. By 1901, despite opposition to his traditional methods, he had established himself in Munich as a composer, pianist, and teacher. He became a prolific com¬ poser of songs, piano pieces, and especially organ music. His music, combining progressive and conservative elements and often highly chro¬ matic, has always been more popular in Germany than elsewhere.

reggae Vre-ga\ Jamaican popular music and dance style. It originated in the mid-1960s as a music of the Jamaican poor, reflecting social dis¬ content and the Rastafarian movement. Its instrumentation features an electric bass played at high volume as a lead instrument, around which an ensemble of organ, piano, drums, and lead and rhythm electric guitars plays short ostinato phrases with regular accents on the offbeats. Reggae was popularized in the U.S. by the film The Harder They Come (1973), starring the singer Jimmy Cliff, and through tours by Bob Marley and the Wailers and by Toots (Hibbert) and the Maytals, whose influence was felt among white rock musicians.

Reggio di Calabria Vred-jo-de-ka-'la-bre-9\ ancient Rhegium City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 179,384), capital of Reggio di Calabria province and former capital (until 1971) of Calabria region, southern Italy. A Greek colony founded on the Strait of Messina at the end of the 8th century bc, it was allied with Athens in the 5th century bc and with Rome c. 280 bc. From the 5th century ad it was ruled successively by the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, and Arabs. It was conquered by the Normans under Robert Guiscard c. 1060 and became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Destroyed many times by Muslim invaders and by earth¬ quakes, it has repeatedly been rebuilt. It is a tourist resort and seaport that exports dried herbs and essential oils for the perfume and pharmaceuti¬ cal industries.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

regiment ► Reign of Terror I 1603

regiment In most armies, a body of troops headed by a colonel and divided into companies, battalions, or squadrons. French cavalry units were called regiments as early as 1558. In early U.S. service, as in Euro¬ pean armies up to that time, the usual number of companies in a regiment was 10. Early in the 19th century, Napoleon divided the regiments of the French army into three battalions each, and in 1901 the U.S. Army adopted the three-battalion infantry regimental system.

Regina Xri-'jl-noV City (pop., 2001: 178,225), capital of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located on the Wascana Creek in the south-central part of the province. Regina originated as a hunting camp and was known as Pile O’Bones for the heaps of bones left there after skinning and cutting buf¬ falo. It was the administrative headquarters of the Northwest Territories 1882-1905, then it became the provincial capital. It was the headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police until 1920. After World War II the city expanded rapidly to become an important transportation, manufac¬ turing, and distributing centre for a vast agricultural area. Local mineral resources and fertile prairies support an economy based largely on oil, natural gas, potash refining, and food processing.

regional development program Any government program designed to encourage the industrial and economic development of regions beset by joblessness or other economic hardship. Most industri¬ alized countries have adopted some type of regional development pro¬ gram since World War II. The most common method of encouraging development is to offer grants, loans, and loan guarantees to companies relocating or expanding in the region. France, for example, has offered subsidies related to the amount of investment and the number of new jobs created, as well as loans, interest subsidies, and free land sites. Tax incen¬ tives are also used to encourage companies to invest in depressed areas. In other programs, the government may offer low-cost housing for work¬ ers and assistance in developing power, light, transportation, and sanita¬ tion facilities. See also development bank.

regression In statistics, a process for determining a line or curve that best represents the general trend of a data set. Linear regression results in a line of best fit, for which the sum of the squares of the vertical dis¬ tances between the proposed line and the points of the data set are mini¬ mized (see least squares method). Other types of regression may be based on higher-degree polynomial functions or exponential functions. A quadratic regression, for example, uses a quadratic function (second-degree poly¬ nomial function) to produce a parabola of best fit.

regressive tax Tax levied at a rate that decreases as its base increases. Regressivity is considered undesirable because poorer people pay a greater percentage of their income in tax than wealthier people. Consump¬ tion TAXes and sales TAXes are usually considered regressive because of their set rate structures. Tobacco, gasoline, and liquor sales taxes, all major sources of tax revenue, are the most regressive taxes. In an effort to limit regressivity, a number of U.S. states have exempted medicine and gro¬ cery items from sales tax. Although the property tax is sometimes judged regressive because poorer people spend a larger percentage of their income on housing than wealthier people, property taxes are nonetheless effective in redistributing wealth from higher to lower income groups. See also PROGRESSIVE TAX.

Regulators of North Carolina (1764-71) Vigilance group formed in the western frontier counties of North Carolina. Opposed to the high taxes and corruption of the colonial government, the group sought vainly to obtain reforms; it then refused to pay taxes, agitated against public officials, and committed acts of violence. Gov. William Try on sent troops to crush the insurrection at the Battle of Alamance (1771). The leaders were hanged for treason, and many followers fled to Tennessee, where they sided with the loyalists in the American Revolution.

regulatory agency Independent government commission charged by the legislature with setting and enforcing standards for specific industries in the private sector. The concept was invented by the U.S. government in 1887, and regulatory agencies exist almost exclusively in the U.S. The theory is that a commission of experts on the industry being regulated is better equipped to regulate it than the legislature or executive departments. Designed to operate with a minimum of executive or legislative supervi¬ sion, agencies have executive, legislative, and judicial functions, and their regulations have the force of law. Important regulatory agencies include the Food and Drug Administration, OSHA, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rehnquist \'ren-,kwist\, William H(ubbs) (b. Oct. 1, 1924, Milwau¬ kee, Wis., U.S.—d. Sept. 3,2005, Arlington, Va.) U.S. jurist who served as chief justice of the United States (1986-2005). He received his law degree from Stanford University and served as clerk to Supreme Court justice Rob¬ ert Jackson. He later practiced law in Phoenix, Ariz. (1953-69), where he became active in the conservative wing of the Republican Party. At the U.S. Justice Department (1969-71), he opposed civil rights legislation and advocated greatly enlarged police powers. He was nominated for the Supreme Court by Pres. Richard Nixon in 1972. During the 1970s and into the ’80s, Rehnquist formed the anchor of the court’s conservative minority bloc. His polished legal opinions and consistently conservative stance on almost all legal issues led Pres. Ronald Reagan to appoint him chief justice in 1986. Rehnquist dramatically reduced the court’s caseload and improved its efficiency. With the support of other conservatives, he led the court in curbing the ability of Congress to expand federal authority and in curtailing affirmative action programs. He presided over the U.S. Senate during the impeachment trial of Pres. Bill Clinton (1999).

Reich \'rlk\, Steve orig. Stephen Michael Reich (b. Oct. 3, 1936, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. composer. He majored in philosophy at Cor¬ nell University. After musical study with Darius Milhaud and Luciano Berio, he pursued interests in Balinese and African music, learning drumming in Ghana. His early music explored the process of simultaneous repeated patterns gradually slipping out of phase (“process music”). With Terry Riley (b. 1935) and Philip Glass, he was among the most prominent of the early “minimalists” of the 1970s. His early works include Drumming (1971) and Music for 18 Musicians (1976); later works such as The Desert Music (1983) and Different Trains (1988) show a considerably expanded compositional vocabulary.

Reich \'rikV Wilhelm (b. March 24, 1897, Dobrzcynica, Galicia, Austria-Hungary—d. Nov. 3, 1957, Lewisburg, Pa., U.S.) Austrian-U.S. psychologist. Trained at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, he joined the faculty of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1924. In The Function of the Orgasm (1927), he argued that the failure to achieve orgasm could produce neurosis. An advocate of sexual education and freedom as well as of radical left-wing politics, he left Germany in 1933 and settled in the U.S. in 1939. After breaking with the psychoanalytic movement in 1934, he developed a pseudoscientific system called orgonomy. He conceived of mental illness and some physical illnesses as deficiency of cosmic energy (measured in units called “orgones”), which he treated by placing the patient in a cabinet with reflective inner surfaces known as the orgone box. Reich’s views brought him into conflict with U.S. authorities in the early 1950s; he was convicted of contempt of court and died in prison.

Reichstag \'r!ks-,tak\ fire (Feb. 27, 1933) Burning of the German par¬ liament building (Reichstag) in Berlin. Allegedly set by a Dutch commu¬ nist, the fire was used by Adolf Hitler to turn public opinion against his opponents, especially the communists. He enacted a decree suspending constitutional protection of personal rights, which effectively began the Nazi Party dictatorship. The fire was widely believed to have been set by the Nazis themselves, while others have argued there was no proof of Nazi complicity; it remains the subject of debate and research.

Reid, Thomas (b. April 26, 1710, Kincardineshire, Scot.—d. Oct. 7, 1796, Glasgow) Scottish philosopher. He served as a Presbyterian pastor from 1737 to 1751. His lengthy studies of David Hume convinced him that Hume’s skepticism was false, because it was incompatible with common sense. According to Reid, both human behaviour and ordinary language provide overwhelming evidence to support the reality of a material world and the existence of an enduring self as the subject of continuously chang¬ ing mental experience. His works include An Inquiry into the Human Mind (1764), Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785), and Essays on the Active Power of Man (1788).

Reign of Terror French La Terreur (1793-94) Period in the French Revolution. It was established by the government on Sept. 5, 1793, to take harsh measures against those suspected of being enemies of the Revolu¬ tion (including nobles, priests, and hoarders). Controlled by the radical Committee of Public Safety and Maximilien Robespierre, the Terror eliminated enemies on the left (Jacques Hebert and his followers) and the right (Georges Danton and the Indulgents). A law passed in June 1794 that sus¬ pended a suspect’s right to public trial or legal defense caused the Ther- midorian Reaction, and the Terror ended on July 27, 1794, with Robespierre’s overthrow. About 300,000 suspects were arrested during the period; about 17,000 were executed, and many others died in prison.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1604 I Reims ► relation

Reims or Rheims \'remz,\ French \'re n s\ City (pop., 1999: 187,206), northeastern France. The ancient capital of the Gallic tribe of the Remi, it was conquered by the Romans. In the 5th century the Frankish king Clovis was baptized there, and in honour of this occasion most later French kings were crowned in Reims. The city was badly damaged in World Wars I and II and was the scene of Germany’s unconditional surrender in May 1945. It is a major wine-producing centre noted especially for cham¬ pagne. Other industries include air¬ craft and automobile equipment manufacturing. The 13th-century cathedral of Notre-Dame is one of the most notable Gothic cathedrals in France.

reincarnation or transmigra¬ tion of souls or metempsy¬ chosis Doctrine of the rebirth of the soul in one or more successive existences, which may be human, animal, or vegetable. Belief in reincar¬ nation is characteristic of Asian religions, especially Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. All hold to the doctrine of karma, the belief that actions in this life will have their effect in the next. In Hinduism, a per¬ son may be freed from the cycle of birth and rebirth only by reaching a state of enlightenment. Likewise in Buddhism, discipline and meditation may enable a seeker to reach nirvana and escape the wheel of birth and rebirth. Manichaeism and Gnosticism accepted the concept of reincarnation, as do such modern spiritual movements as Theosophy.

reindeer Any species of Arctic deer in the genus Rangifer (family Cervidae), especially Old World species, some of which are domesticated. New World species are usually called caribou. The reindeer herded by the Sami (Lapps) are used as draft and pack animals and as a source of meat and milk; their skins are used for tents, boots, and other clothing. In Sibe¬ ria they are used as pack animals and as mounts.

Reiner, Carl (b. March 20, 1922, Bronx, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. actor, writer, director, and producer. He acted on the stage before appearing with Sid Caesar in the television comedy series Your Show of Shows (1950- 54). He created and produced The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66), for which he won several Emmy Awards. His novel Enter Laughing (1958) was adapted as a play (1963) and a movie (1967). He directed film com¬ edies such as Where’s Poppa (1970), Oh, God! (1977), and Fatal Instinct (1993). His son Rob Reiner (b. 1945) acted in various television series, Wj including All in the Family (1971-78), and became a director of note.

wm Reiner Yrl-narV Fritz (b. Dec. 19, 1888, Budapest, Austria-

Hungary—d. Nov. 15, 1963, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Hungarian-born U.S. conductor. After piano studies with Bela Bartok, he conducted opera in mm Budapest (1911—14) and Dresden (1914-22). In 1922 he immigrated to

y the U.S., where he conducted orchestras in Cincinnati (1922-31) and

Pittsburgh (1938-48). From 1953 to 1962 he led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which under Reiner first won international acclaim. He also taught conducting at the Curtis Institute (Leonard Bernstein was among his students). A stern taskmaster, he inspired devotion on the part of many players.

reinforced concrete Concrete in which steel is embedded in such a manner that the two materials act together in resisting forces. The rein¬ forcing steel—rods, bars, or mesh—absorbs the tensile, shear, and some¬ times the compressive stresses in a concrete structure. Plain concrete does not easily withstand tensile and shear stresses caused by wind, earth¬ quakes, vibrations, and other forces and is therefore unsuitable in most structural applications. In reinforced concrete, the tensile strength of steel and the compressive strength of concrete work together to allow the mem¬ ber to sustain these stresses over considerable spans. The invention of reinforced concrete in the 19th century revolutionized the construction industry, and concrete became one of the world’s most common building materials.

Reinhardt, Ad(olf Frederick) (b. Dec. 24, 1913, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.—d. Aug. 30, 1967, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. He studied art after

graduating from Columbia University. He employed several abstract styles in the 1930s and ’40s, but by the early 1950s he had restricted his works to monochrome paintings incorporating symmetrically placed squares and oblong shapes against backgrounds of similar colour, in which drawing, line, brushwork, texture, light, and most other visual elements were suppressed. He explained his style as a conscious search for an art that would be entirely separate from life. He influenced the Minimalist movement of the 1960s, more as a polemicist than as a painter.

Reinhardt, Django orig. Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt (b. Jan. 23, 1910, Liberchies, Belg.—d. May 16,

1953, Fontainebleau, France)

Belgian-French guitarist. Of Roma (Gypsy) parentage, Reinhardt learned guitar at an early age, adapt¬ ing his technique to accommodate the loss of the use of two fingers burned in a caravan fire in 1928.

With jazz violinist Stephane Grap¬ pelli (1908-97), he formed the Quin¬ tette du Hot Club de France in 1934.

He toured the U.S. with Duke Elling¬ ton in 1946. Reinhardt was one of the first important guitar soloists in jazz; his blend of swing and the Roma musical tradition as well as his unconventional technique made him a unique and legendary figure.

Reinhardt, Max orig. Max Goldmann (b. Sept. 9, 1873, Baden, near Vienna, Austria—d. Oct. 31, 1943, New York, N.Y., U.S.) German theatrical director. After studying drama in Vienna and acting in Salzburg, he joined Otto Brahm’s company in Berlin in 1894. Reinhardt directed his first play in 1902 and managed a small theatre from 1903. He had directed more than 40 plays by 1905, when he became famous for his creative staging of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He bought Berlin’s Deutsches Theater and remodeled it with the latest inno¬ vations in scenic design and lighting. Known for the extravagant theat¬ ricality and stunning visual effects of his productions, he won much praise for his staging of the religious spectacle The Miracle (1911). In 1920 he cofounded the Salzburg Festival, where he staged Jedermann (an adap¬ tation of Everyman ) in the cathedral square. He left Germany in 1933 and eventually settled in the U.S. A major influence on 20th-century drama, he helped increase the creative authority of the director.

Reinsurance Treaty (June 18, 1887) Secret agreement between Ger¬ many and Russia. Arranged by Otto von Bismarck after the collapse of the Three Emperors' League, it provided that each party would remain neutral if either became involved in a war with a third nation, and that this would not apply if Germany attacked France or if Russia attacked Austria. Ger¬ many acknowledged the Russian sphere of influence in Bulgaria. After the treaty was not renewed in 1890, a Franco-Russian alliance began to take shape.

Rejang River See Rajang River

relapsing fever Infectious disease with recurring fever, caused by several spirochetes of the genus Borrelia, transmitted by lice, ticks, and bedbugs. Onset is sudden, with high fever, which breaks within a week with profuse sweating. Symptoms return about a week later. There may be 2 to 10 relapses, usually decreasing in severity. Mortality usually ranges from 0 to 6%, up to 30% in rare epidemics. Central nervous sys¬ tem involvement causes various (usually mild) neurological symptoms. The first microscopic organisms clearly associated with serious human disease (1867-68), the spirochetes mutate repeatedly, changing their anti¬ gens so that the host’s immunity no longer is effective, which produces the relapses. Antibiotics can be effective, but inadequate therapy may leave spirochetes alive in the brain, and they may reinvade the blood¬ stream.

relation In logic, a relation R is defined as a set of ordered pairs, triples, quadruples, and so on. A set of ordered pairs is called a two-place (or dyadic) relation; a set of ordered triples is a three-place (or triadic) rela¬ tion; and so on. In general, a relation is any set of ordered n-tuples of objects. Important properties of relations include symmetry, transitivity, and reflexivity. Consider a two-place (or dyadic) relation R. R can be said to be symmetrical if, whenever R holds between x and y, it also holds

The cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims, Fr.

PAUL ALMASY

Django Reinhardt, 1947

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relational database ► Religious Science I 1605

between y and x (symbolically, (Vx) (Vy) [Rxy =d Ryx]); an example of a symmetrical relation is “x is parallel to y.” R is transitive if, whenever it holds between one object and a second and also between that second object and a third, it holds between the first and the third (symbolically, (Vx) (Vy) (Vz ) L(Rxy a Ryz) z> Rxz]); an example is “x is greater than y.” R is reflexive if it always holds between any object and itself (sym¬ bolically, (Vx) Rxx); an example is “x is at least as tall as y” since x is always also “at least as tall” as itself.

relational database Database in which all data are represented in tabular form. The description of a particular entity is provided by the set of its attribute values, stored as one row or record of the table, called a tuple. Similar items from different records can appear in a table column. The relational approach supports queries that involve several tables by providing automatic links across tables. Payroll data, for example, can be stored in one table and personnel benefits data in another; complete infor¬ mation on an employee can be obtained by joining the tables on employee identification number. In more powerful relational data models, entries can be programs, text, unstructured data in the form of binary large objects (BLOBs), or any other format the user requires. The relational approach is currently the most popular model for database management system. See also OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING.

relative density See specific gravity

relativism Any view that maintains that the truth or falsity of state¬ ments of a certain class depends on the person making the statement or upon his circumstances or society. Historically the most prevalent form of relativism has been See also ethical relativism.

relativity Concept in physics that measurements change when consid¬ ered by observers in various states of motion. In classical physics, it was assumed that all observers anywhere in the universe would obtain identical measurements of space and time intervals. According to relativity theory, this is not so; all measurements depend on the relative motions of the observer and the observed. There are two distinct theories of relativity, both proposed by Albert Einstein. The special theory of relativity (1905) devel¬ oped from Einstein’s acceptance that the speed of light is the same in all reference frames, irrespective of their relative motion. It deals with non¬ accelerating reference frames, and is concerned primarily with electric and magnetic phenomena and their propagation in space and time. The general theory (1916) was developed primarily to deal with gravitation and involves accelerating reference frames. Both theories are major milestones in the history of modern physics. See also equivalence principle, space-time.

relay race Race between teams in which each team member succes¬ sively covers a specified portion of the course. In track events, such as the 4 x 100-m and 4 x 400-m relays, the runner finishing one leg passes a baton to the next runner while both are running within a marked exchange zone. In swimming com¬ petitions, such as the 4 x 100-m and 4 x 200-m freestyle races and the 4 x 100-m medley, the swimmer com¬ pleting one leg touches the edge of the pool to signal the start of the next teammate’s leg.

relief or rilievo \ril-'ye-vo\ (from Italian, rilievare : “to raise”) In sculp¬ ture, any work in which the figures project from a supporting back¬ ground, usually a plane surface. Bas- reliefs (“low reliefs”), in which the design projects only slightly, were common on the walls of stone build¬ ings in ancient Egypt, Assyria, and elsewhere in the Middle East. High reliefs, in which the forms project at least half or more of their natural cir¬ cumference, were first employed by the ancient Greeks. Italian Renais¬ sance sculptors combined high and low relief in strikingly illusionistic compositions, as in Lorenzo Ghiber¬ ti’s bronze doors in Florence.

Baroque sculptors continued these

experiments, often on a larger scale (e.g., Alessandro Algardi’s Meeting of Attila and Pope Leo, 1646-53). The dramatic possibilities of the Renaissance concept of relief were later notably employed by Francois Rude ( The Marseillaise, 1833-36) and Auguste Rodin (The Gates of Hell).

relief Public or private aid to people in economic need because of natu¬ ral disasters, wars, economic upheaval, chronic unemployment, or other conditions that prevent self-sufficiency. A distinction may be drawn between relief targeting upheavals and natural disasters and relief of chronic social conditions, now usually referred to as welfare. In 17th- century China the government maintained ever-normal granaries for use in the event of famine. Through the 19th century, disaster relief in Europe consisted largely of emergency grants of food, clothing, and medical care through hastily organized local committees. In the 20th century, disaster relief became one of the chief activities of the International Red Cross and other international agencies. Assistance to the needy from public funds has traditionally been strictly limited; in England, the Poor Law Reform Act of 1834 required people able to work to enter a workhouse in order to receive public assistance. The U.S. government responded to the Great Depression with the New Deal, which emphasized work relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration. In the later 20th century, the work requirement was abandoned in most countries, and the needy received direct cash payments, though in the U.S. the movement for wel¬ fare reform resulted in the passage in 1996 of “workfare” laws cutting off relief for most able-bodied welfare recipients who failed to find a job or perform community service.

relief printing See letterpress printing

religion Relation of human beings to God or the gods or to whatever they consider sacred or, in some cases, merely supernatural. Archaeologi¬ cal evidence suggests that religious beliefs have existed since the first human communities. They are generally shared by a community, and they express the communal culture and values through myth, doctrine, and ritual. Worship is probably the most basic element of religion, but moral conduct, right belief, and participation in religious institutions also con¬ stitute elements of the religious life. Religions attempt to answer basic questions intrinsic to the human condition (Why do we suffer? Why is there evil in the world? What happens to us when we die?) through the relationship to the sacred or supernatural or (e.g., in the case of Buddhism) through perception of the true nature of reality. Broadly speaking, some religions (e.g., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are outwardly focused, and others (e.g.. Jainism, Buddhism) are inwardly focused.

religion, philosophy of Branch of philosophy that studies key meta¬ physical and epistemological concepts, principles, and problems of reli¬ gion. Topics considered include the existence and nature of God, the possibility of knowledge of God, human freedom (the free will problem), immortality, and the problems of moral and natural evil and suffering. Natural theology is the attempt to establish knowledge of God without dependence on revelation. Traditional arguments for the existence of God include the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, and the

ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN.

Religion, Wars of (1562-98) Conflicts in France between Protestants and Catholics. The spread of French Calvinism persuaded the French ruler Catherine de Medicis to show more tolerance for the Huguenots, which angered the powerful Catholic de Guise family. Its partisans massacred a Huguenot congregation at Vassy (1562), causing an uprising in the prov¬ inces. Many inconclusive skirmishes followed, and compromises were reached in 1563, 1568, and 1570. After the murder of the Huguenot leader Gaspard II de Cougny in the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day (1572), the civil war resumed. A peace compromise in 1576 allowed the Hugue¬ nots freedom of worship. An uneasy peace existed until 1584, when the Huguenot leader Henry of Navarra (later Henry IV) became heir to the French throne. This led to the War of the Three Henrys and later brought Spain to the aid the Catholics. The wars ended with Henry’s embrace of Catholicism and the religious toleration of the Huguenots guaranteed by the Edict of Nantes (1598).

Religious Science Movement founded in the U.S. by Ernest Holmes (1887-1960). After publishing his major work, The Science of the Mind (1926), Holmes established the Institute of Religious Science and Philoso¬ phy (1927). In 1949 Religious Science was established as a denomination; it soon split into two groups. It teaches that the individual mind and the Universal Mind are one and that the universe is the material manifestation of the Universal Mind. Like New Thought, it teaches that evil stems from

Athena mourning, mezzo-relievo from the Acropolis, 5th century BC, in the Acropolis Museum, Athens

AUNARI--ART RESOURCE/EB INC.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1606 I Remagen ► renal cyst

ignorance of humanity’s true higher identity and that prayer can bring about healing not only of spiritual but of physical ailments.

Remagen \'ra-,mag- 3 n\ Town (pop., 2002 est.: 16,134), western Ger¬ many. Located on the left bank of the Rhine River, southeast of Bonn, it originated as a Roman fortress and still has Roman remains. During World War II its railroad bridge was the site where Allied troops forced a cross¬ ing of the Rhine (1945) for the first time in the war.

Remak \'ra-,mak\ / Robert (b. July 26, 1815, Posen, Prussia—d. Aug. 29, 1865, Kissingen, Bavaria) German embryologist and neurologist. He discovered and named the three germ layers of cells that develop in the early embryo: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. He also discov¬ ered Remak fibres (nerve fibres with no myelin sheath) and Remak gan¬ glia (neurons in the heart) and was a pioneer in electrotherapy for nervous diseases. He achieved enough eminence to obtain a lectureship at the University of Berlin despite Prussian laws barring Jews from teaching.

remanent magnetism See paleomagnetism

Remarque \r3-'mark\, Erich Maria orig. Erich Paul Kramer (b.

June 22, 1898, Osnabriick, Ger.—d. Sept. 25, 1970, Locarno, Switz.) German-bom U.S.-Swiss novelist. Drafted into the German army at age 18, he served in World War I and was wounded several times. He is chiefly remembered for All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), a brutally real¬ istic account of the daily routine of ordinary soldiers and perhaps the best-known and most representative novel about that war. He moved to the U.S. in 1939 and became a U.S. citizen but settled in Switzerland after World War II. His other works include The Road Back (1931), Arc de Triomphe (1946; film, 1948), and The Black Obelisk (1956).

Rembrandt (Harmenszoon) van Rijn \rin\ (b. July 15, 1606, Leiden, Neth.—d. Oct. 4, 1669, Amsterdam) Dutch painter and etcher. The son of a prosperous miller in Leiden, he was apprenticed to masters there and in Amsterdam. His early works show the spotlight effects of light and shadow that were to dominate his later works. After moving to Amsterdam in 1631, he quickly became the city’s most fashionable portrait painter, and in 1632 he was commissioned to paint the celebrated Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. Yearning for recognition as a biblical and mythological painter, in 1635 he produced his Sacrifice of Isaac and in 1636 the uncon¬ ventional masterpiece Danae. In 1634 he married Saskia van Uylenburgh, a woman of property, and he painted many tender pictures of her until 1642, when Saskia died. That same year he completed his largest painting, the extraordinary but controversial The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq (known as The Night Watch), which was a watershed in his life and art. His portrait commissions thereafter declined and he turned increasingly to etchings and biblical subjects. His Christ at Emmaus (1648) exemplifies the quiet dignity and vulnerability of his later spirituality. In 1656, after transferring most of his property to his son, he applied for bank¬ ruptcy. In his last decade he treated biblical subjects like portraits, and also did a wealth of self-portraits; many of these paintings evoke a timeless world of quiet, deep emotion. His paintings are characterized by luxuriant brush work, rich colour, and a mastery of chiaroscuro. The silent human fig¬ ure, Rembrandt’s central subject, contributes to the sense of a shared dia¬ logue between viewer and picture, the foundation of Rembrandt’s greatness and of his popularity today.

Remington, Eliphalet (b. Oct. 28, 1793, Suffield, Conn., U.S.—d. Aug. 12, 1861, Ilion, N.Y.) U.S. firearms manufacturer and inventor. The son of a blacksmith, he grew up on his father’s farm near Utica, N.Y., where he made his first flintlock rifle (1816). In 1828 he built a large arms factory at present-day Ilion, N.Y. He and his son Philo improved arms manufacture with the reflection method of straightening gun barrels and the first successful cast-steel, drilled rifle barrel made in the U.S. In 1847 he supplied the U.S. Navy with its first breech-loading rifle. His Rem¬ ington Arms Co. made small arms for the U.S. government during the American Civil War and World Wars I and II.

Remington, Frederic (b. Oct. 4, 1861, Canton, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 26, 1909, near Ridgefield, Conn.) U.S. painter, illustrator, sculptor, and war correspondent. He studied at Yale University and New York’s Art Students League. He traveled widely and specialized in depicting Native Americans, cowboys, soldiers, horses, and other aspects of life in the American West. His work is notable for its rendering of swift action and its accuracy of detail. He covered the Spanish-American War (1898) as a correspondent. The countless reproductions of his works as newspaper engravings brought him wealth and fame.

remora Vre-mo-roV or sharksucker or suckerfish Any of 8-10 species of marine fishes (family Ech- eneidae) noted for attaching them¬ selves to, and riding about on, sharks, other marine animals, and oceango¬ ing ships. Remoras adhere by means of a flat, oval sucking disk on top of the head. They are thin and dark, 1-3 ft (30-90 cm) long. They live in warm waters worldwide, feeding on the leavings or the external parasites of their hosts.

ren or jen \'ren\ In Confucianism, the most basic of all virtues, vari¬ ously translated as “humaneness” or “benevolence.” It originally denoted the kindness of rulers to subjects. Confucius identified ren as perfect virtue, and Mencius made it the distin¬ guishing characteristic of humanity. In Neo-Confucianism it was a moral quality imparted by Heaven.

Renaissance Vre-no-.sansV French "Rebirth" Late medieval cultural movement in Europe. The Renaissance brought renewed interest in Clas¬ sical learning and values to Italy and subsequently the rest of western and central Europe from the late 13th to the early 17th century. Attracted by the values and rhetorical eloquence of ancient writers, figures such as Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Lorenzo Valla rejected medieval Scho¬ lasticism in favour of human-centred forms of philosophy and literature. In northern Europe, Desiderius Erasmus cultivated Christian humanism, and writers such as Francois Rabelais and William Shakespeare produced works that emphasized the intricacies of human character. Inspired by ancient Greece and Rome, Renaissance painters and sculptors took the visible world for their subject and practiced according to mathematical principles of balance, harmony, and perspective. The new aesthetic found expres¬ sion in the works of Italian artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Bot¬ ticelli, Raphael, Titian, and Michelangelo, and the Italian city of Florence became the centre of Renaissance art. The term has also been applied to cultural revivals in England in the 8th century, the Frankish kingdoms in the 9th century, and Europe in the 12th century. See also Renaissance ARCHITECTURE.

Renaissance architecture Style of architecture, reflecting the rebirth of Classical culture, that originated in Florence in the early 15th century and spread throughout Europe, replacing the medieval Gothic style. There was a revival of ancient Roman forms, including the column and round arch, the tunnel vault, and the dome. The basic design element was the order. Knowledge of Classical architecture came from the ruins of ancient buildings and the writings of Vitruvius. As in the Classical period, proportion was the most important factor of beauty; Renaissance archi¬ tects found a harmony between human proportions and buildings. This concern for proportion resulted in clear, easily comprehended space and mass, which distinguishes the Renaissance style from the more complex Gothic. Filippo Brunelleschi is considered the first Renaissance architect. Leon Battista Alberti’s Ten Books on Architecture, inspired by Vitruvius, became a bible of Renaissance architecture. From Florence the early Renaissance style spread through Italy. Donato Bramante’s move to Rome ushered in the High Renaissance (c. 1500-20). Mannerism, the style of the Late Renaissance (1520-1600), was characterized by sophistication, complexity, and novelty rather than the harmony, clarity, and repose of the High Renaissance. The Late Renaissance also saw much architectural theorizing, with Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554), Giacomo da Vignola (1507-1573), and Andrea Palladio publishing influential books.

renal cell carcinoma or hypernephroma Malignant tumour of the cells that cover and line the kidney. It usually affects persons over age 50 who have vascular disorders of the kidneys. It seldom causes pain, unless it is advanced. It may metastasize to other organs (e.g., lungs, liver, brain, bone) and go unrecognized until these secondary tumours cause symptoms. Blood can appear in the urine early on but is painless and usu¬ ally disregarded. Even when the cancer is in the early stages. X-ray films can show deformity in kidney structures.

renal cyst Any of several types of cysts in the kidneys. Some are present at birth; others are caused by tubular obstruction. Large cysts can cause backaches and a dragging sensation. Multiple cysts occur as a result of various disorders, including kidney vascular diseases, lymphatic vessel

A remora (Echeneis naucrates) and its host, a leopard shark.

DOUGLAS FAULKNER

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

renal failure ► reovirus I 1607

blockage, congenital diseases, and tapeworm infestation. The most seri¬ ous is medullary cystic disease, which has no warning symptoms but causes anemia, low blood sodium levels, and uremia. The kidneys become shrunken, grainy, and scarred. Cysts should usually be checked surgically to rule out cancer. See also urogenital malformation.

renal failure See kidney failure renal system See urinary system

Renan \ra-'na n V (Joseph-) Ernest (b. Feb. 28, 1823, Treguier, France—d. Oct. 2, 1892, Paris)

French philosopher, historian, and scholar of religion. He trained for the priesthood but left the Catholic church in 1845, feeling that its teach¬ ings were incompatible with the findings of historical criticism, though he retained a quasi-Christian faith in God. His five-volume His¬ tory of the Origins of Christianity (1863-80) includes his Life of Jesus (1863); an attempt to reconstruct the mind of Jesus as a wholly human person, it was virulently denounced by the church but widely read by the general public. His later works include the series History of the People of Israel (1888-96).

renga \'req-,ga\ Japanese linked- verse poetry in which two or more poets supply alternating sections of a poem. The form began with the composition of a traditional five-line poem (tanka) by two people. A popular pastime from ancient times, even in remote rural areas, it developed fully in the 15th century. Composition spread to court poets, who drew up “codes” to establish renga as an art. An example of renga is the melancholy Minase sangin hyakuin (1488), composed by Iio Sogi, Shohaku, and Socho. Later the initial verse ( hokku ) of a renga developed into the haiku form.

Reni \'ra-ne\, Guido (b. Nov. 4, 1575, Bologna, Papal States—d. Aug. 18, 1642, Bologna) Italian painter. Apprenticed to the Flemish painter Denis Calvaert at 10, he was later influenced by the novel naturalism of the Carracci family of his native Bologna, the frescoes of Raphael, and ancient Greco-Roman sculpture. He executed many important commis¬ sions in Rome, including the celebrated ceiling fresco Aurora (1613-14). In his religious and mythological works, he tempered Baroque exuber¬ ance and complexity with Classical restraint, tender emotion, and delicate colouring. Until John Ruskin scorned him in the 19th century, he was highly regarded; his status as one of the great painters of the 17th cen¬ tury has since been reestablished.

Renner, Karl (b. Dec. 14, 1870, Unter-Tannowitz, Bohemia, Austria- Hungary—d. Dec. 31, 1950, Doebling, Austria) Austrian chancellor (1918-20, 1945) and president (1945-50). A lawyer, he served in the Reichsrat (lower house) from 1907. He became the first chancellor of the new Austrian republic in 1918 but was unable to prevent territorial losses at the end of World War I. In the 1920s he led the right wing of the Social Democratic Party and in 1938 favoured the Anschluss with Germany. In 1945 he worked to reestablish Austrian home rule and was elected presi¬ dent of the republic. He wrote numerous works on government and law.

Rennes Vren\ City (pop., 1999: 206,229), western France. Located at the confluence of the Ille and Vilaine rivers, Rennes was once under Roman occupation. It was the capital of Brittany in the Middle Ages and a rival of Nantes. It was the seat of the Brittany parliament from 1561 to 1675. Rennes was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1720 and was rebuilt. It was bombed and partly destroyed in World War II. It is a com¬ mercial and industrial city, producing railway equipment, automobiles, and chemicals. It is also the cultural centre of Brittany.

Rennie, John (b. June 7, 1761, Phantassie, East Lothian, Scot.—d. Oct. 4, 1821, London, Eng.) Scottish civil engineer. He built three bridges across the Thames at London: Waterloo Bridge (since replaced), the old Southwark Bridge (1814-19), and the New London Bridge (completed 1831 and since replaced). He worked on extensive drainage projects in the Lincolnshire fens; built the London and East India docks on the

Thames; improved naval dockyards at Plymouth, Portsmouth, Chatham, and Sheerness; and began the great breakwater that shelters Plymouth Sound.

Reno Yre-no\ City (pop., 2000: 180,480), western Nevada, U.S. It is located on the Truckee River, near the California border, Lake Tahoe, and the Sierra Nevada foothills. Until 1900 it was primarily a distribution point, but, after several well-known people were granted divorces or were quickly married there under liberal state laws, it became famous as a busy divorce and marriage centre. It is also a year-round vacation centre. When gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931, Reno began to attract tour¬ ists to its many casinos.

Renoir, Jean (b. Sept. 15, 1894, Paris, France—d. Feb. 12, 1979, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.) French film director. The son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, he discovered a passion for the cinema while recovering from wounds suffered in World War I. He directed his first film, La Fille de Teau, in 1924. His films, in both silent and later eras, were noted for their deep appreciation for the unpre¬ dictability of human character. He cowrote the screenplays for many of his films, including Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), Madame Bovary (1934), The Crime of Mon¬ sieur Lange (1936), and La Bete humaine (1938) as well as his two masterpieces, Grand Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939).

He lived in the U.S. (1940-51), where he directed The Southerner (1945), The Diary of a Chamber¬ maid (1946), and The River (1951).

Renoir \r9n-'war\, Pierre-Auguste (b. Feb. 25, 1841, Limoges, France—d. Dec. 3, 1919, Cagnes) French painter. His father, a tailor in Limoges, moved with his large family to Paris in 1844. Renoir began work¬ ing as a decorator of porcelain at 13 and studied painting at night. He formed a close friendship with his fellow student Claude Monet and became a leading member of the Paris Impressionists. His early works were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour and light. By using small, multicoloured strokes, Renoir evoked the vibration of the atmosphere, the sparkling effect of foliage, and especially the luminosity of a young woman’s skin in the outdoors. Because of his fascination with the human figure, he was distinctive among the others, who were more inter¬ ested in landscape. Among his early masterpieces are Le Moulin de la Gal- ette (1876) and The Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881). A visit to Italy (1881-82) introduced him to Raphael and the expressive force of clear line and smooth painting, and by the mid 1880s he had broken with Impres¬ sionism to employ a more disciplined, formal technique. In works such as Bathers (1884-87), he emphasized volume, form, contours, and line. In his later works, he departed from the strict rules of Classicism to paint colour¬ ful still lifes, portraits, nudes, and landscapes of southern France, where he settled in 1907. Rheumatism confined him to a wheelchair by 1912 but he never ceased to paint, even though often with his brush attached to his hand. The filmmaker Jean Renoir was his son.

rent In common usage, payment made in return for the right to use prop¬ erty belonging to another. In classical economics, rent was the income gained from cultivated or improved land after the deduction of all pro¬ duction costs. In modern economic usage, rent is the difference between the total return to a factor of production (land, labour, capital) and its sup¬ ply price, the minimum amount necessary to attain its services. Rent plus opportunity cost make up the total income paid to a productive resource. Efforts made by a resource owner to obtain monopoly profit is considered rent-seeking behaviour.

Renta, Oscar de la See Oscar de la Renta

Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

See Community of Christ

reovirus \ l re-o-'vl-ros\ Any of a small group of animal and plant viRUSes that appear spheroidal and contain a core of RNA. Among the best-known

Renan, detail of an oil painting by Leon Bonnat, 1892; in the Musee Renan, Treguier, Fr.

ARCHIVES PHOTOGRAPHIQUES

Jean Renoir

GLOBE PHOTOS