Ribera \re-'ber-3\, Jose de or Jusepe de Ribera (baptized Feb. 17, 1591, Jativa, Spain—d. Sept. 2, 1652, Naples) Spanish painter and
Rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum )
DEREK FELL
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1618 I riboflavin ► Richard II
printmaker. Though bom in Spain, where he is said to have trained under Francisco Ribalta, he spent most of his life in Naples (then a Spanish pos¬ session). Most of his works are of religious subjects. Dramatic light and shadow and sometimes horrific detail emphasize the mental and physical suffering of penitent or martyred saints, as in The Martyrdom of St. Bar¬ tholomew (c. 1630). In later works his modeling is softer, his colours are richer, and he demonstrates strong human sympathy, as in The Clubfooted Boy (1642). His etchings are among the finest produced in Italy and Spain in the Baroque period.
riboflavin V.ri-bo-'fla-vonX or vitamin B 2 Yellow, water-soluble organic compound, abundant in whey and egg white. It has a complex structure incorporating three rings. Green plants and most microorgan¬ isms can synthesize it; animals need to acquire it in their diet. It exists in combined forms as coenzymes and functions in the metabolism of carbohy¬ drates and amino acids. A syndrome resembling pellagra is thought to result from riboflavin deficiency. See also flavin.
ribose \'rI-,bos\ Five-carbon sugar found in RNA. (In DNA the corre¬ sponding sugar is the closely related deoxyribose.) A ribose molecule combined with adenine, guanine, cytosine, or uracil forms a nucleoside; adding a phosphate group forms a nucleotide. The ribose of one nucleotide joins with the phosphate of the next to form the RNA backbone. Ribose phosphates are components of various coenzymes and are used by micro¬ organisms in synthesizing histidine.
ribosome Vri-ba-.somX Tiny particle, the site of protein synthesis, that is present in large numbers in living cells. They occur both as free par¬ ticles within cells and, in eukaryotes, as particles attached to the mem¬ branes of the endoplasmic reticulum. They are 40% protein and 60% RNA. Ribosomes account for a large proportion of the total RNA of a cell. Pro¬ teins newly formed on ribosomes detach and migrate to other parts of the cell to be used.
Ricardo, David (b. April 18/19, 1772, London, Eng.—d. Sept. 11, 1823, Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire) British economist. The son of a Dutch Jew, he followed his father into the London stock exchange, where he made a fortune before turning to the study of political economy, in which he was influenced by the writings of Adam Smith. His writings in support of a metal currency standard were influential. In his major work, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), he examined the movement of wages and the determination of value, asserting that the domestic values of commodities were largely determined by the labour required for their production. His Iron Law of Wages stated that attempts to improve the real income of workers were futile and that wages tended to stabilize at subsistence level. Though many of his ideas are obsolete, he was a major figure in the development of classical economics and is credited as the first person to systematize economics.
Ricci \'ret-che\, Matteo (b. Oct. 6, 1552, Macerata, Papal States—d. May 11, 1610, China) Italian Jesuit missionary who introduced Christian¬ ity to China. From a noble family, he was educated by the Jesuits, whose order he joined after studying law in Rome. He volunteered for mission¬ ary work overseas, arrived in Goa in 1578, and proceeded to China in 1582. China’s interior was closed to foreigners when he arrived, but his willingness to adopt the Chinese language and culture gave him entry. In 1597 he was appointed director of Jesuit activities in China. In 1599 he settled in Nanjing, where he studied astronomy and geography. In 1601 he was finally admitted to Beijing, where he preached the Gospel, taught science to scholars, and translated Christian works into Chinese.
Riccio \'ret-cho,\ English Vrich-e-.oV, David orig. Davide Rizzio (b. c. 1533, Pancalieri, near Turin, Piedmont—d. March 9, 1566, Edinburgh, Scot.) Secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots. The son of a musician, he accompanied the duke of Savoy’s ambassador to Scotland and entered Mary’s service as a musician (1561). He became her close adviser and helped arrange her marriage to Lord Darnley (1565). Disliked because of his arrogance, Riccio was an impediment to the Scottish nobles’ plan to remove Mary. While at dinner in Mary’s palace, he was seized by an armed band of nobles, including Lord Ruthven, and stabbed to death.
rice Edible starchy cereal grain and the annual grass ( Oryza sativa, family Poaceae, or Gramineae) that produces it. Roughly one-half of the world’s population, including almost all of East and Southeast Asia, depends on rice as its principal staple food. First cultivated in India more than 4,000 years ago, rice was planted gradually westward and is now cultivated widely in flooded fields (paddies) and river deltas of tropical, semitropical,
and temperate regions. Growing to about 4 ft (1.2 m) in height, rice has long, flat leaves and an inflorescence made up of spikelets bearing flowers that produce the fruit, or grain.
Removal of just the husk produces brown rice, containing 8% protein and a source of iron, calcium, and B vitamins. Removal of the bran layer leaves white rice, greatly diminished in nutrients. Enriched white rice has added B vitamins and minerals.
So-called wild rice ( Zizania aquat- ica) is a coarse annual grass of the same family whose cereal grain, now often considered a delicacy, has long been an important food of North American Indians.
Rice, Jerry (Lee) (b. Oct. 13,
1962, Starkville, Miss., U.S.) U.S. gridiron football player. He won All-America honours at Mississippi Val¬ ley State University. As a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers (1985-2000), he was part of three Super Bowl championship teams (1988, 1989, and 1994). Standing 6 ft 2 in. (1.9 m). Rice was larger than the typical NFL wide receiver of his era, and he used his size and strength to overmatch defenders; he was also an exceptional runner. He completed his career in 2005 as the all-time NFL leader in touchdowns (207), recep¬ tions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895), and combined yardage (23,546).
Rice University Private university in Houston, Texas, U.S. It was founded in 1891 and endowed by William Marsh Rice. It has schools of humanities, social sciences, architecture, music, natural sciences, and engineering and a graduate school of administration. It offers both under¬ graduate and graduate degrees in numerous fields.
Rich, Adrienne (Cecile) (b. May 16, 1929, Baltimore, Md., U.S.) U.S. poet, scholar, and critic. She was a student at Radcliffe College when her poems were chosen for publication in the Yale Younger Poets series; the resulting volume, A Change of World (1951), reflected her formal mas¬ tery. Her subsequent work traces a transformation from well-crafted but imitative poetry to a highly personal and powerful style. Her increasing commitment to the women’s movement and a lesbian/feminist aesthetic influenced much of her work. Among her collections are Diving into the Wreck (1973, National Book Award) and The Dream of a Common Lan¬ guage (1978). She also wrote compelling books of nonfiction, including Of Woman Born (1976; National Book Award), On Lies, Secrets, and Silence (1979), and What Is Found There (1993).
Rich, Buddy orig. Bernard Rich (b. June 30/Sept. 30, 1917, Brook¬ lyn, N.Y., U.S.—d. April 2,1987, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. bandleader and drummer. Rich was a child-prodigy vaudeville performer known as “Baby Traps, the Drum Wonder.” He played with several of the great swing bands, notably those of Artie Shaw (1939) and Tommy Dorsey (1939-42,1944-46), before forming his own big band. In small ensembles, he worked with many of the greatest jazz musicians in concerts and recordings during the 1950s. The clarity and speed of his drumming made him legendary.