rodent Any member of the order Rodentia, which contains 50% of all living mammal species. Rodents are gnawing, mostly herbivorous, placen¬ tal mammals. They have one pair of upper and one pair of lower, con¬ tinuously growing, incisors. When the lower jaw is pulled back, the cheek teeth connect for grinding; when it is pulled forward and down, the inci¬ sors meet at the tips for gnawing. Rodent families include squirrels (Sci- uridae); Old World mice (see mouse) and rats (Muridae); deer mice (see DEER MOUSE), GERBILS, HAMSTERS, LEMMINGS, MUSKRATS, WOOD RATS, and VOLES
(Cricetidae); beaver (Castoridae); gophers (Geomyidae); guinea pigs (Cavi- idae); pocket mice (see pocket mouse) and kangaroo rats and mice (Het- eromyidae); New and Old World porcupines (Erethizontidae and Hystricidae); and hutia (Capromyidae).
rodeo Sport involving a series of contests derived from North Ameri¬ can cowboy skills. Rodeos typically feature competitive or exhibition bronco riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, and Brahma bull riding. The sport developed from informal competitions among cowboys held from the mid-19th century. Denver is traditionally accepted as the birthplace of paid spectator rodeo, in 1887. The oldest surviving annual show is the Frontier Days celebration in Cheyenne, Wyo. (established 1897). The Calgary Stampede has been held annually in Alberta, Can., since 1923.
In calf roping and steer wrestling, the contestant seeks to bring down the animal in the shortest possible time. In riding events, contestants seek to stay on their mounts as long as possible and are awarded points for style, control, and other factors.
Rodgers, Jimmie orig. James Charles Rodgers (b. Sept. 8, 1897, Meridian, Miss., U.S.—d. May 26, 1933, New York, N.Y.) U.S. country music singer and guitarist. He left school at age 14 to work on the railroad, and he would be known throughout his career as the “Singing Brakeman.” While working on the trains he learned guitar and banjo, absorbed blues techniques from African American railroad workers, and eventually created his characteristic sound—a blend of traditional work, blues, hobo, and cowboy songs and his trademark “blue yodel.” By c. 1924 tuberculosis had made his railroad work impossible; he began instead to perform and soon became a best-selling recording artist, the first solo star of country music. His more than 110 recordings include “Blue Yodel No. 1” and “Mississippi River Blues.” He died at age 35. He was one of the first three inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Rodgers, Richard (b. June 28, 1902, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 30, 1979, New York City) U.S. composer. Rodgers studied at Columbia University, where he met his future collaborator Lorenz Hart, and he later studied composition at the Institute of Musical Art. His first success with Hart (who wrote lyrics) was a revue, The Garrick Gaieties (1925). Their comedy On Your Toes (1936), with the jazz ballet Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, established serious dance as a permanent part of musical com¬ edy. Among their other collaborations were Babes in Arms (1937), The Boys from Syracuse (1938), and Pal Joey (1940), which was revived in 1952 with great success. After Hart’s death, Rodgers worked with libret¬ tist Oscar Hammerstein. Their Oklahoma! (1943, Pulitzer Prize) enjoyed a then-unprecedented Broadway run of 2,248 performances; their 17-year partnership produced successes such as South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959) and made them the fore¬ most team in the history of the American musical.
Rodin \ro-'da n \, (Francois-) Auguste (Rene) (b. Nov. 12, 1840, Paris, France—d. Nov. 17, 1917, Meudon) French sculptor. Insolvent and repeatedly rejected by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, he earned his living by doing decorative stonework. Not until his late 30s, after a trip to Italy, did he develop a personal style free of academic restraints and establish his reputation as a sculptor with The Age of Bronze (exhibited 1878), whose realism was so great that he was accused of forming its mold on a living person. His Gates of Hell, a bronze door commissioned in 1880 for a pro¬ posed Musee des Arts Decoratifs, remained unfinished at his death, but two of its many figures were the bases of his most famous images, The Thinker (1880) and The Kiss (1886). His portraits include monumental figures of Victor Hugo and Honore de Balzac. Though these and many other works caused controversy for their unconventionality, he was successful enough that he could establish a workshop where he executed only molds, leaving the casting of bronze and the carving of marble to assistants. To his sculp¬ ture he added book illustrations, etchings, and numerous drawings, mostly of female nudes. He revitalized sculpture as an art of personal expression and has been considered one of its greatest portraitists.
Rodney, Caesar (b. Oct. 7, 1728, Dover, Del.—d. June 26, 1784, Dover, Del., U.S.) American Revolutionary leader. He was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress (1765) and the Continental Congress (1774-76, 1777-78). He cast the tie-breaking vote in the Delaware delegation that decided the Congress’s resolution for independence. A signer of the Dec¬ laration of Independence, he became commander of the Delaware militia (1777) and served as “president” of Delaware (1778-81).
Rodrigo, Joaquin (b. Nov. 22,
1901, Sagunto, Spain—d. July 6,
1999, Madrid) Spanish composer.
Rodrigo, who was blind from age three, studied music from an early age. Best known for his music for the guitar, especially his highly success¬ ful Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra (1939), Rodrigo also wrote concertos for other instru¬ ments, a ballet, an opera, and some 60 songs.
roe deer Almost tailless Eurasian DEER ( Capreolus capreolus), found in
Roe deer buck (Capreolus capreolus).
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Roe v. Wade ► Rogers I 1633
small family groups in lightly forested regions. It stands 26-34 in. (66-86 cm) at the shoulder. Its coat is reddish brown in summer and grayish brown, with a conspicuous white rump patch, in winter. The male has short, usually three-tined antlers roughened at the base. When alarmed, the deer barks like a dog.
Roe v. Wade (1973) Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that established a woman’s right to have an abortion without undue inter¬ ference from the government. A Texas law prohibiting abortions was chal¬ lenged by an unmarried pregnant woman (pseudonymously named Jane Roe), and the court ruled in her favour, finding that the state had violated her right to privacy (see rights of privacy). Harry Blackmun, writing for the seven-member majority, argued that the state’s legitimate concern for the protection of prenatal life increased as a pregnancy advanced. While allow¬ ing that the state might forbid abortions during a pregnancy’s third trimes¬ ter, he held that a woman was entitled to obtain an abortion freely, after medical consultation, during the first trimester and in an authorized clinic during the second trimester. The Roe decision, perhaps the most contro¬ versial in the Supreme Court’s history, remains at the centre of the issue of abortion rights. Repeated challenges since 1973, such as Planned Parent¬ hood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, have narrowed the scope of Roe but have not overturned it.
Roebling \'roeb-liq,\ English Vro-bliqV, John Augustus (b. June 12, 1806, Miihlhausen, Prussia—d. July 22, 1869, Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., U.S.) German-U.S. civil engineer, a pioneer in the design of suspension bridges. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1831. His best-known work is New York’s Brooklyn Bridge. In the 1850s and ’60s Roebling and his son Wash¬ ington (1837-1926) built four suspension bridges: two at Pittsburgh, one at Niagara Falls (1855), and one at Cincinnati (1866). When his design for a bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan was accepted, he was appointed chief engineer. He died from an injury he received as construc¬ tion began. Washington completed the project in 1883; himself incapaci¬ tated from 1872 by decompression sickness, his completion of the work depended heavily on his wife, Emily Warren Roebling.