Roh Moo Hyun (b. Aug. 6, 1946, Gimhae, near Pusan, Korea [now in South Korea]) South Korean president (from 2003). Born into a poor fam¬ ily, Roh did not attend college but was able to pass the bar exam in 1975 and later became a highly respected human rights lawyer. He was a member of the National Assembly (1988-92) and served in the cabinet (1998-2002) of Pres. Kim Dae Jung. Roh, who favoured negotiations with North Korea and criticized U.S. policy toward the Korean peninsula, won the 2002 presi¬ dential elections. In March 2004 Roh was impeached over charges of elec¬ toral law violations, economic mismanagement, and illegal campaign donations. Forced to temporarily step down, he was reinstated as president in May after the Constitutional Court overturned the impeachment.
Rohan \ro-'a n \, Henri, duke de (b. 1579, Chateau of Blain, Brittany, France—d. April 13, 1638, Konigsfeld, Switz.) French Huguenot leader. At age 16 he entered the army of Henry IV, who made him a peer of France in 1603. After Henry’s death (1610), Rohan led the Huguenots in revolt against the government of Marie de Medicis (1615-16) and became the Huguenots’ foremost general in the civil wars of the 1620s. He recounted the events of the War of La Rochelle (1627-29) in his celebrated Mem- oires. He then went to Venice. After his return to France (1635), he suc¬ cessfully commanded a French expedition against the Habsburgs in Lombardy. In 1637 he went to Switzerland, where he died in the Thirty Years' War battle at Rheinfelden.
Rohan, Louis-Rene-Edouard, prince de (b. Sept. 25, 1734, Paris, France—d. Feb. 17, 1803, Ettenheim, Baden) French clergyman. A car¬ dinal and bishop of Strasbourg (1779-1801), he spent much of his time at the French court. He was involved in the Affair of the Diamond Neck¬ lace (1785) when he was duped into purchasing a necklace for Marie- Antoinette without her authority. Tried for fraud, he was acquitted but was exiled from the court in disgrace, and he became a martyr to the queen’s enemies and the critics of royal absolutism.
Rohe, Ludwig Mies van der
See Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Rohm \'rcem\, Ernst (b. Nov. 28,
1887, Munich, Ger.—d. July 1,
1934, Munich-Stadelheim) German leader of the SA. He rose to the rank of major in World War I. Soon there¬ after, he helped found the Nazi Party.
A supporter of Adolf Hitler, he offered Hitler the use of his private strong-arm force (later the SA). After brief imprisonment for his part in the Beer Hall Putsch (1923), Rohm went to Bolivia as a military instructor (1925-30), but he was recalled by Hitler to reorganize and command the SA. Rohm’s ambition that the SA supplant or absorb the regular army came to be opposed by Hitler and his advisers. On the pretext that he and the SA were preparing to overthrow Hitler, Rohm was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives.
Rohmer Vro-morX, Eric orig. Jean-Marie-Maurice Scherer (b.
April 4, 1920, Nancy, France) French film director. After working as a schoolteacher, he became a founding editor of La Gazette du Cinema in 1950 and later editor of the influential New Wave periodical Cahiers du Cinema (1957-63). After directing several short films, he made a series of contes moraux (“moral tales”) that included the successful films My Night at Maud’s (1968), Claire’s Knee (1970), and Chloe in the After¬ noon (1972), sensitively observed studies of romantic love. His later films include The Marquise of O (1976), Full Moon in Paris (1984), and Autumn Tale (1999).
Rojas Pinilla Vro-has-pe-'ne-yaV Gustavo (b. March 12, 1900, Tunja, Colom.—d. Jan. 17, 1975, Bogota) Soldier and dictator of Colom¬ bia (1953-57). He rose through the ranks of the army to seize power from the brutal regime of Laureano Gomez (b. 1889—d. 1965). Though he promised peace, justice, and liberty, he instead ruled by decree, silencing the opposition press, stirring up violence against Protestants, and embez¬ zling government money. He was exiled and impeached but returned to form an opposition party and run for president. In 1970 he was narrowly defeated in elections he claimed were fraudulent; his supporters rioted and martial law was declared. His daughter sought the presidency in 1974 but was soundly defeated.
Rokitansky \,ro-ke-'tan-ske\, Karl, baron von (b. Feb. 19, 1804, Koniggratz, Austria—d. July 23, 1878, Vienna) Austrian pathologist. He inspired Ignaz Semmelweis to study medicine and supported his use of anti¬ septic procedures to eliminate puerperal fever. Rokitansky was the first to detect bacteria in malignant endocarditis and to describe spondylolis¬ thesis (forward displacement of one vertebra over another). He differen¬ tiated pneumonias originating in lobes of the lung and in bronchioles, made a fundamental study of acute yellow atrophy of the liver, and estab¬ lished the micropathology of emphysema. His Treatise of Pathological Anatomy (3 vol., 1842-46) elevated pathology to an established science. During his career he performed more than 30,000 autopsies.
Rokossovsky Vo-ko-'sof-skeV Konstantin (Konstantinovich)
(b. Dec. 21, 1896, Velikiye Luki, Russia—d. Aug. 3, 1968, Moscow, Rus¬ sia, U.S.S.R.) Russian army officer. He joined the Red Army in 1917 and rose through the ranks. Imprisoned in 1938 during the Stalinist purges, he was released when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. He became a noted commander in World War II, especially at the Battle of Stalingrad. After the war he was minister of defense in Soviet-dominated Poland (1949-56) and deputy minister of defense in the Soviet Union
(1956-62).
Roland, Chanson de See Chanson de Roland
Rolfe \'ralf\, John (baptized May 6,1585, Norfolk, Eng.—d. 1622?, Vir¬ ginia) English colonial official. He arrived in Virginia (1610), where his experiments with tobacco cultivation produced the first export crop and built the colony’s economy. In 1614 he married Pocahontas, which helped assure peaceful relations with local tribes. In 1617 the couple and their infant son traveled to England; they were enthusiastically received, but Pocahontas became ill and died. Rolfe returned to Virginia and was appointed to the colony’s council. He was apparently killed in a massacre.
Rolland \ro-Ta n \, Romain (b. Jan. 29, 1866, Clamecy, France—d. Dec. 30, 1944, Vezelay) French novelist, dramatist, and essayist. At age 14 he went to Paris to study and found a society in spiritual disarray, and his life and writings came to reflect his concern with major social, politi¬ cal, and spiritual events. From 1910 he taught music history at the Sor- bonne. His best-known novel is Jean-Christophe (1904-12), a 10-volume epic whose protagonist is modeled half on Ludwig van Beethoven and half on himself. His pamphlet Above the Battle (1915) calls on France and Germany to respect truth and humanity during World War I. In the 1920s he turned to interpreting the mystical philosophy of Asia, especially India, in works such as Mahatma Gandhi (1924). He wrote several other major biographies, including Beethoven (1910). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.
Rolle \'rol\, Richard (de Hampole) (b. c. 1300, Thornton, York¬ shire, Eng.—d. Sept. 29, 1394, Hampole, Yorkshire) English mystic. He left the University of Oxford without a degree, dissatisfied with the sub¬ jects of study, and became a hermit. Writing in the vernacular for the sake of women readers, he exalted the contemplative life and emphasized a rapturous mystical union with God. He may have been spiritual adviser to the nuns of Hampole in his late years.
Rohm, 1933.
HEINRICH HOFFMANN, MUNICH
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
roller bearing ► roman I 1635
roller bearing One of the two types of rolling, or antifriction, bearings, the other being the ball bearing. Like a ball bearing, a roller bearing has two grooved tracks, but the balls are replaced by rollers. The rollers may be cylinders or shortened cones. If the rollers are cylindrical, only radial loads (perpendicular to the axis of rotation) can be carried, but with coni¬ cal rollers both radial and thrust, or axial, loads (parallel to the axis of rotation) can be carried. In a given space, a roller bearing can carry a greater radial load than a ball bearing can.