rallying UN forces and forcing the Chinese out of South Korea. Promoted to general, he succeeded Douglas MacArthur as Allied commander in the Far East (1951). He later served as supreme commander of NATO forces (1952) and army chief of staff (1953-55).
Riefenstahl Vre-fon-.shtalV, Leni orig. Berta Helene Amalie Riefenstahl (b. Aug. 22, 1902, Berlin, Ger.—d. Sept. 8, 2003, Pocking) German film director and photographer. In the 1920s she was a dancer and actress in German nature films. After forming a production company, she made and starred in the mystical The Blue Light (1932). For Adolf Hitler she directed the propaganda film Triumph of the Will (1935), a documentary glorifying the 1934 Nurnberg rally. She was praised for the technical bril¬ liance of Olympia (1938), her documentary on the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Detained by Allied forces after World War II, she was eventually cleared of complicity in Nazi war crimes, but her film career never recov¬ ered, and she worked principally as a photographer thereafter.
Riel \re-'el\, Louis (b. Oct. 23, 1844, St. Boniface, Assiniboia, Can.—d. Nov. 16, 1885, Regina, District of Assinibois, Can.) Canadian leader of the Metis people in western Canada. In 1869 Riel headed a revolt against Cana¬ dian expansion in the west that resulted in the establishment of the province of Manitoba (1870). Intermittent hostilities continued for several years thereafter, and Riel was officially outlawed. In 1885 he led a Metis uprising in Saskatchewan that was crushed by the Canadians. Riel was found guilty of treason and hanged. His death led to ethnic conflicts in Quebec and Ontario and marked the beginning of the nationalist movement.
Riemann \'re-,man\, (Georg Friedrich) Bernhard (b. Sept. 17, 1826, Breselenz, Hanover—d. July 20, 1866, Selasca, Italy) German mathematician. He studied at the Universities of Berlin and Gottingen and later taught principally at Gottingen. His dissertation (1851) was on func¬ tion theory. He became convinced that mathematical theory could link magnetism, light, gravitation, and electricity and suggested field theories, in which the space surrounding electrical charges may be mathematically described. While continuing to develop unifying mathematical themes in the laws of physics, he created Riemannian geometry (or elliptic geometry), which proved essential to Albert Einstein’s model of space-time in relativity theory. Riemann surfaces, Riemann integrals, and Riemann curvature, among other concepts, contributed to the understanding of curves and surfaces, as well as of calculus. With Carl Friedrich Gauss, Riemann helped establish Gottingen’s reputation as a world leader in mathematical research. His work widely influenced geometry and analysis.
Riemannian geometry See elliptic geometry
Riemenschneider Vre-mon- .shni-dorV Tilman (b. c. 1460, Heilgenstadt or Osterode, Domain of the Teutonic Order—d. July 7, 1531, Wurzburg) German sculptor. Son of a mint master, he settled in Wurzburg in 1483 and opened a highly success¬ ful workshop. He was a city council¬ lor (1504-20) and burgomaster (1520-25), but his sympathies with the revolutionaries in the Peasants' War led to a brief imprisonment. His wood and stone sculpture, character¬ ized by sharply folded, flowing drap¬ ery, included monumental tombs and altarpieces as well as independent statues and reliefs, and made him one of the major masters of late Gothic art in Germany.
Rienzo, Cola di See Cola di Rienzo
Riesener \rez-'ner\, Jean-Henri
(b. July 4, 1734, Gladbeck,
Munster—d. Jan. 6, 1806, Paris, Fr.) French cabinetmaker. Son of an usher in the law courts of the elector of Cologne, he joined a workshop in Paris and became its head when his master died. In 1774 he was made royal cabinetmaker and from then on
Jewel casket on a stand, veneered with mahogany, sycamore, and purple- wood, by Riesener, c. 1780; in the Vic¬ toria and Albert Museum, London.
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1622 i Riesman ► Rigveda
was the regular supplier of furniture to Marie-Antoinette. His preferred wood was mahogany; occasionally he used lacquer and mother-of-pearl to enrich his surfaces. His furniture exemplified the Louis XVI style.
Riesman, David (b. Sept. 22, 1909, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d. May 10, 2002, Binghamton, N.Y.) U.S. sociologist. Riesman taught at the uni¬ versities of Buffalo and Chicago before returning to Harvard, his alma mater, to teach (1958-80). He studied primarily the social character of the urban middle class and is noted for The Lonely Crowd (1950), the title of which became a catchphrase for the alienation of the individual in mod¬ em urban society.
Rietveld Vret-.vehA, Gerrit (Thomas) (b. June 24, 1888, Utrecht, Neth.—d. June 25, 1964, Utrecht) Dutch architect and furniture designer. He was an apprentice in his father’s cabinetmaking business (1899-1906) and later studied architecture in Utrecht. In 1918 he created his famous red-and-blue armchair, which, with its emphasis on geometry and use of primary colours, became a symbol of De Stijl. His masterpiece is the Schroeder House in Utrecht (1924), remarkable for its interplay of right- angle forms, planes, and lines, and for its use of primary colours.
Rif Muslim Berber people who live in El-Rif in northern Morocco. Their culture is based on cultivation, herding, and fish processing. They speak a dialect of Berber, but Arabic and Spanish are also widely used. They have traditionally flouted central-government control and have often insti¬ gated uprisings and attempted coups. Led by Abd el-Krim, they declared a short-lived independent republic, the Republic of the Rif (1921-26), which was quashed by a French-Spanish alliance.
Rif, El- \er-'rif\ or Rif Hilly coastal region, northern Morocco. Consti¬ tuting the central and eastern parts of former Spanish Morocco, the hills extend from east of Melilla to Ceuta, both Spanish enclaves. For the greater part of its length, the mountains hug the Mediterranean Sea, leaving only a few narrow coastal valleys suitable for agriculture or urban settlement. The loftier peaks are snowcapped in winter. In the 1920s Berber tribes inhabiting the region rose in revolt under Abd al-Krim to resist Franco- Spanish occupation.
rifle Firearm whose barrel is rifled (i.e., has spiral grooves cut inside it to give a spin to the projectile). Though usually applied to a weapon fired from the shoulder, the name can also refer to a rifled cannon. Rifled fire¬ arms date to at least the 15th century, when it was discovered that impart¬ ing a spin to the bullet improved its range and accuracy. The earliest muzzle-loading rifles were more difficult to load than smoothbore mus¬ kets, but the invention of metallic cartridges made possible the develop¬ ment of breech-loading mechanisms. Bolt-action rifles, which use a manually operated cylinder to drive the cartridge into the rifle’s chamber, are the most common type for hunting. See also assault rifle.
rift valley Elongated trough formed by the subsidence of a segment of the Earth’s crust between dip-slip, or normal, faults. Rift valleys are usu¬ ally narrow and long and have a relatively flat floor. The sides drop away steeply in steps and terraces. Rift valleys are found on the continents and along the crests of oceanic ridges. They occur where two plates that make up the Earth’s surface are separating (see plate tectonics). Submarine rift valleys are usually centres of seafloor spreading, where magma wells up from the mantle. The most extensive continental rift valleys are those of the East African Rift System; other notable examples include Russia’s Baikal Rift Valley and Germany’s Rhine Rift Valley.
Rift Valley See Great Rift Valley