Robber fly (Asilidae)
WILLIAM E. FERGUSON
Jerome Robbins in Fancy Free, 1944.
FRED FEHL
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1628 I Roberts ► Robinson
in London before settling in Toronto. His best-known poems are simple descriptive lyrics about the scenery and rural life of Nova Scotia and his native New Brunswick. He published some 12 verse volumes, including In Divers Tones (1887) and The Vagrant of Time (1927). His prose includes short stories that display his intimate knowledge of the Canadian woods, including Earth’s Enigmas (1896) and Red Fox (1905). He is remembered as the first writer to express national feeling after the con¬ federation of 1867.
Roberts, John G(lover), Jr, (b. Jan. 27, 1955, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.) 17th chief justice of the United States (2005- ). He earned a law degree (1979) from Harvard University, where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review, and served as a law clerk (1980-81) to Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist, who later became chief justice. He held several positions in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, during which time he became noted for his apparent advocacy of strongly conservative legal viewpoints. In 2003 Pres. George W. Bush nominated Roberts to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; he was confirmed later that year. He held that post until 2005, when Bush nominated him to fill the vacancy left by the retir¬ ing justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Shortly before Roberts’s confirmation hearings began, Rehnquist died, prompting Bush to appoint Roberts chief justice. Quickly confirmed by the Senate (78-22), he was sworn in on Sept. 29, 2005.
Roberts, Oral (b. Jan. 24, 1918, near Ada, Okla., U.S.) U.S. evange¬ list. The son of a Pentecostal preacher, he underwent a conversion expe¬ rience in 1935. He spent 12 years as a pastor in several towns in the South and built up his own organization, the Pentecostal Holiness Church. He studied at Oklahoma Baptist College (1943-45), emerging as a Method¬ ist. Claiming direct communications from God, he began an itinerant ministry of faith healing in the late 1940s. The Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, based in Tulsa, Okla., became the parent organization for other endeavors, including a publishing firm, and Roberts became known for his luxurious way of life. From the 1950s he reached wide audiences through radio and television. In 1963 he founded Oral Roberts Univer¬ sity in Tulsa, and in the early 21st century he continued his association with the university, holding the office of chancellor.
Roberts, Richard (b. April 22, 1789, Carreghova, Montgomeryshire, Wales—d. March 16, 1864, Manchester, Eng.) British inventor. He was an uneducated Welsh quarry man before he took a position with Henry Maudslay and then established his own machine-tool factory. He was one of the inventors of the metal planer, and he made important improvements to the lathe. His automatic spinning mule marked an important advance in spinning technology. He developed a screw-cutting lathe and built gear¬ cutting and slotting machines, railway locomotives with interchangeable parts, automatic machinery for punching holes in plate, and the first suc¬ cessful gas meter. Though he was said to have improved everything he touched, he was not a shrewd businessman, and he died in poverty.
Robertson, Oscar (Palmer) (b. Nov. 24, 1938, Charlotte, Tenn., U.S.) U.S. basketball player. He was the first African American to play for the University of Cincinnati. Drafted by the Cincinnati Royals of the NBA in 1960, he averaged double figures in points (30.8), rebounds (12.5), and assists (11.4) per game in 1961-62, a feat unmatched by any other player. He played for the Milwaukee Bucks (1970-74) and helped the team win a championship in 1970. He ended his career with 26,710 points, 7,804 rebounds, and 9,887 assists.
Robertson, Pat orig. Marion Gordon Robertson (b. March 23, 1930, Lexington, Va., U.S.) U.S. evangelist. He attended Washington and Lee University, served in the Marine Corps, and earned a law degree from Yale University. After undergoing a religious conversion, he studied at New York Theological Seminary and was ordained a Southern Baptist minister in 1959. In 1960 he started the nation’s first Christian television station, at Portsmouth, Va., and he built it into the Christian Broadcast¬ ing Network. Its mainstay was his talk show, The 700 Club. In 1988 he campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination. In 1989 he founded the Christian Coalition, a conservative political organization that went on to exercise wide influence.
Roberval \r6-ber-'val\, Jean-Francois de la Rocque, lord de
(b. c. 1500, Carcassonne, France—d. 1560/61, Paris) French colonizer in Canada. He was a member of the court of Francis I. Appointed lieutenant general of the North American territory discovered earlier by Jacques Cartier, he was sent to colonize the region. In 1542 he reached Cartier’s
former headquarters at Cap Rouge, near present-day Quebec. Cartier was to have served as his guide, but he had left in 1541. The settlement was short-lived, breaking up in 1543 after a harsh winter. Mineral wealth that Roberval brought back turned out to be fool’s gold and mica.
Robeson \'rob-s9n\, Paul (Bustill) (b. April 9, 1898, Princeton, N.J., U.S.—d. Jan. 23, 1976, Philadelphia, Pa.) U.S. singer, actor, and activist. Born to a former slave turned preacher and a Quaker mother, Robeson attended Rutgers University, where he was an All-America football player. Graduating at the head of his class, he went on to earn a law degree at Columbia University. Because of a lack of opportunity for African Ameri¬ cans in law, he turned to theatre, joining a group that included Eugene O'Neill and appearing in his All God’s Chillun Got Wings (1924) and The Emperor Jones (1924), a huge success in New York City and London. He also starred in the film version of The Emperor Jones (1933). Robeson’s superb bass-baritone brought him worldwide renown with his perfor¬ mance of “OF Man River” in Show Boat (1928). His lead role in Othello won high praise in London (1930) and on Broadway (1943). He visited the Soviet Union in 1934 and became identified with leftist politics. In 1950 his passport was withdrawn because he refused to disclaim mem¬ bership in the Communist Party. Viciously harassed and ostracized, Robe¬ son left the U.S. to live in Europe and travel in Soviet-bloc countries, but he returned in 1963 because of ill health.
Robeson Vrob-S3n\ Channel Northernmost part of the sea passage connecting Baffin Bay with the Arctic Ocean. Located between Ellesmere Island, Can., and northwestern Greenland, it extends north for 50 mi (80 km) from the Hall Basin to the Lincoln Sea. For brief periods during the summer, the channel is open to navigation.
Robespierre \,ro-bes- , pyer\ / Maximilien (Francois-Marie- Isidore) de (b. May 6, 1758, Arras, France—d. July 28, 1794, Paris) French revolutionary. A successful lawyer in Arras (1781-89), he was elected to the National Assembly (1789), where he became notorious as an outspoken radical in favour of individual rights. He became a leading member of the Montagnards in the National Convention. After calling for the death of Louis XVI, he led the Jacobins (see Jacobin Club) and the Committee of Public Safety (1793) in establishing the Reign of Terror, dur¬ ing which, as virtual dictator of France, he had former friends such as Georges Danton executed. Despite earlier support from the people of Paris, who called him “the Incorruptible,” he lost his dominating author¬ ity and was overthrown and guillotined in the Thermidorian Reaction. Often regarded as a bloodthirsty dictator, he was later valued for his social ide¬ als of reducing inequality and ensuring work for all.
robin Either of two thrush species (family Turdidae). The American robin {Turdus migratorius), 10 in. (25 cm) long, with gray-brown upper parts and a rusty breast, lives in deciduous forests and sometimes towns. It eats earthworms, insects, and berries. The European robin, or robin red¬ breast (Erithacus rubecula ), breeds throughout Europe, western Asia, and part of North Africa. It is 5.5 in. (14 cm) long, with olive-brown upper parts, white belly, and rusty-orange face and breast.