(1781–1826) British colonial administrator and founder of the port city of
Singapore (1819). He was largely responsible for the creation of Britain's Far
Eastern empire. He was knighted in 1816.
(The Number of the Beast)
Raffles Hotel
Luxury hotel founded in 1887 in Singapore and named for Sir Stamford
Raffles, founder of the British colony there. It was named a National Monument
in 1987.
(Glory Road, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, The Number of
the Beast)
Rahab
In the Biblical book of Joshua (chapters 2 and 6), the spies that Joshua
sent into the city of Jericho were sheltered by the prostitute Rahab. In
gratitude for her aid, Joshua spared her and her family when the Israelites
invaded the city and slew all the other inhabitants.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
Ayn Rand
(1905–1982) Russian-born American writer whose philosophy of Objectivism
posited the superiority of extreme individualism and self-interest over
collectivism and interdependence. Her novels portrayed heroes whose egos and
genius prevail over social conventions and conformism. These novels included
We, the Living (1936), The Fountainhead (1943), and Atlas
Shrugged (1957). Her nonfiction included The Virtue of Selfishness
(1965), Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966), and Introduction to
Objectivist Epistemology (1967).
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
Raytheon
U.S. manufacturer of guided missiles and of radar systems and electronic
systems primarily for military use. The company was founded in 1922 as the
American Appliance Company. It changed its name to Raytheon, Inc., in 1925.
(Friday)
RCA Corporation
U.S. electronics and broadcasting conglomerate founded as Radio
Corporation of America by the General Electric Company in 1919.
(The Rolling Stones)
Reconstruction
Historical period following the U.S. Civil War (1865–1877); specifically,
the political programs intended to resolve the political, social, and economic
problems related to readmitting the Confederate states to the Union, and
abolishing slavery.
(Methuselah's Children)
Red Crescent
In Muslim countries, the counterpart of the Red Cross (see next entry).
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
Red Cross
International humanitarian agency founded in Switzerland in 1863. It
provides emergency services for victims of natural disasters and warfare;
establishes standards for treatment of prisoners of war; acts as an
intermediary between combatants; and visits prisoners in war camps to provide
communications with their families and home countries and to guarantee humane
conditions.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
"Le Regiment de Sambre et Meuse"
French military poem written by Paul Cezano in the late 1870s. It was
inspired by folk tales of the "peasant armies" of France’s Revolutionary
period. In 1879, P. Raulski composed a military march based on the poem. The
Sambre and the Meuse are rivers in northern France.
(Starship Troopers)
Remington Arms Company
U.S. firearms manufacturing company founded by Eliphalet Remington in
1828. Remington and his son invented many improvements in arms manufacture,
including a method of straightening gun barrels, a lathe for cutting
gunstocks, and the first successful cast-steel, drilled rifle barrel in the
United States. The company supplied many of the small arms used by the U.S.
government in the Civil War and in World Wars I and II.
(Time Enough for Love)
Reno
Seat of Washoe County in western Nevada, on the Truckee River near the
California border in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The first settler, C.W.
Fuller, built a toll bridge of logs across the river about 1860. In 1863, this
site was acquired by M.C. Lake and named Lake's Crossing. When the Central
Pacific Railroad reached the site in 1868, a land boom resulted almost
immediately. The resulting town was renamed for the Union general Jesse Lee
Reno of Virginia.
("The Roads Must Roll")
Samuel Renshaw
(1892–1981) U.S. researcher in learning, perception, and memory who
pioneered the use of tachistoscopes for enhancing visual recognition and
memory. In 1946, Renshaw was awarded a patent for the tachistoscopic
projector. He wrote all 23 volumes of the journal Visual Psychology,
and helped found the Midwestern Psychological Association.
(Citizen of the Galaxy, "Gulf", Stranger in a Strange Land)
Reo Motor Car Company
Automobile manufacturing company founded in 1904 by Ransom Eli Olds (of
Oldsmobile fame). By 1907 the company was an industry leader, but sales
declined steadily after 1908, and after 1915 Olds directed his efforts into
other business ventures.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Republican Party
One of the two major political parties in the United States. The party was
officially founded in 1854 when a group of former Whigs, Democrats, and
Free-Soilers adopted the name Republican, evoking the values of "Jeffersonian
republicanism".
(I Will Fear No Evil)
revanche
A political policy of which the goal is recovering lost territory or
status. [French, "revenge"]
(Friday)
Grantland Rice
(1880–1954) U.S. sports columnist and author, considered a leading
authority on sports. He coined the phrase, "It's not whether you win or lose,
it's how you played the game."
(Beyond This Horizon)
Rich Hill, Missouri
Township in Bates County, south of Harrisonville near the Kansas border.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Ivor A. Richards
(1893–1797) English rhetorician who, with linguist C. K.
Ogden, developed Basic English, a simplified system of the English
language using only 850 words. The system was intended as a uniform,
standardized means of international communication. He and Ogden co-authored
The Meaning of Meaning (1923), formulating a theory of language based
on modern psychological research.
("Gulf")
Richardson Crater dune field
Feature of the southern hemisphere of Mars, at 72.36 degrees south
latitude and 181.16 degrees west longitude. It was named in 1973 for Lewis F.
Richardson (1881–1953), British meteorologist and chemist.
(The Rolling Stones)
Rio de Janeiro
Brazilian seaport on the Atlantic Ocean in the southeastern part of the
tropical zone in South America. It was named by Portuguese navigators who
arrived at the site on January 1, 1502, and mistook the entrance of the bay
for the mouth of a river. Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil from 1822
until 1960, when the national capital was moved to Brasília. [Portuguese,
"river of January"]
(Time for the Stars)
"Rip Van Winkle"
Short story by U.S. author Washington Irving. Rip Van Winkle is an idler
who lives in Catskill on the Hudson River during the time just before the War
for Independence. Encountering the ghosts of Henry Hudson and his crew, he
drinks their magical brew and is put to sleep for 20 years. He wakes to find
his village changed almost beyond recognition, his wife and friends dead, his
daughter a wife and mother, and America an independent country.
(Time for the Stars)
Rock Creek Park
National park established in 1890 in the District of Columbia. Rock Creek
flows through it. It contains Battleground National Cemetery.
(The Puppet Masters)
Rockhurst College
Catholic institution offering a liberal-arts education, founded in Kansas
City, Missouri, by the Jesuit order. The college was chartered in 1910, and
college classes were first taught in 1917.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Rocky Mountains
Mountain range in the western United States, part of the chain that
extends from northern Alberta, Canada, to Mexico. In the United States, the
Rockies traverse western Montana and eastern Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and
eastern Utah, and New Mexico.
(The Red Planet)
Gene Roddenberry
Robert Heinlein's author of the quote, "Beauty in Diversity" is probably
Gene Roddenberry, television producer who created the Star Trek series.
A recurring saying of the Vulcans in that series is "Infinite diversity in
infinite combinations".
Star Trek
Television show created by Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991) about a space
ship that explored the galaxy, which premiered in 1966 and ran through 1969.
After its cancellation, its fans remained phenomenally loyal to the show,
resulting in a revival first through movies based on the series and starring
the original cast, then through several other television series based on the
same premise and background details.
(The Number of the Beast)
Rolls-Royce Ltd
British manufacturer of luxury automobiles, automotive and aviation
engines, and other engineering products. It was founded in 1906 by Charles S.
Rolls, a pioneer motorist and aviator, and Henry Royce, an engineer and
manufacturer of electric cranes.
(Double Star, I Will Fear No Evil)
Romany
The language spoken by Gypsies, and by extension their term for themselves
(more often "Rom"). The language is closely related to the modern
Indo-European languages of northern India.
(Citizen of the Galaxy, Podkayne of Mars)
Rome
Capital of Italy, situated in central Italy on the Tiber River 15 miles
(24 km) inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea. According to legend, the city was
founded by the semi-divine twins Romulus and Remus. Historically it was the
center of government for an empire that spanned Europe and the Mediterranean
region. Reaching its ascendancy in the first and second centuries CE during
its imperial period, Rome suffered a severe decline after the empire
collapsed, at times barely surviving in spite of its importance as the home of
the Roman Catholic popes and thus the center of western Christianity. Rome
began to flourish again during the Renaissance, and became the capital of a
united Italy in 1871.
(Time Enough for Love, The Number of the Beast)
Romulus and Remus
The legendary founders of Rome, described as the twin sons of the god Mars
and Rhea Silvia, daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa. Ordered killed by
their uncle, they were miraculously saved from drowning, then suckled by a
she-wolf until they were found by the herdsman who raised them to manhood. The
twins built the city of Rome on the site where they had been saved; but they
fought for predominance and Romulus killed Remus.
(Beyond This Horizon, Time Enough for Love)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(1882–1945) 32nd president of the United States (1933–45), the only
president elected to the office more than twice. Roosevelt led the United
States through the Great Depression and World War II, and greatly expanded the
power of the federal government.
(The Day After Tomorrow, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Theodore Roosevelt
(1858–1919) 26th president of the United States (1901–09), and writer,
naturalist, and soldier. As president, he expanded the power of the federal
government to control the excesses of big business, promoted wilderness
conservation, and began construction of the Panama Canal. He won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1906 for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Route 66
Highway that ran through the western United States from Chicago to Los
Angeles. Its route was specifically chosen to connect rural communities with
the interstate transportation network. As interstate traffic increased, Route
66 was gradually replaced by modern four-lane highways, and the road now
exists only in memory and song.
(Between Planets)
Russia
Country that spans eastern Europe and northern Asia. it was the political
center of the Russian Empire from 1721 to 1917, and of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics until 1991. The great majority of the population are
ethnic Russians, but people from some 60 other ethnic groups live within its
borders. Russia's geography is as diverse as its cultures, ranging from
semi-arid steppes and forests to Arctic tundra.
(Friday, Job: A Comedy of Justice, The Number of the
Beast, The Puppet Masters, Starship Troopers)
Rutherford Crater
Lunar crater located at 10.7 degrees north latitude and 45.1 degrees west
longitude; it is about 8 miles (13km) in diameter. It was named in 1976 after
Sir Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937), the British physicist and Nobel Laureate.
The Heinlein
Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, science
fiction author Robert Anson Heinlein, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."