Biographies for Kids

S. K. Mitra — A shot was fired and a huge balloon rose up, carrying a man with it. The assembled crowd at the Calcutta Maidan cheered. The man, Ram Chandra Chatterjee, was demonstrating that one could ascend by balloon. While the crowd shouted and applauded the feat, a nine-year-old boy was puzzled. He tugged at the shirt of his …

Roger Scruton — Roger Vernon Scruton is a writer, philosopher and public commentator. He has specialised in aesthetics with particular attention to music and architecture. He engages in contemporary political and cultural debates from the standpoint of a conservative thinker and is well known as a powerful polemicist. His first publication – Art and Imagination – was an exploration of …

Roger Randall Dougan Revelle, was a scientist and scholar who was instrumental in the formative years of the University of California, San Diego and was one of the first scientists to study global warming and the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates. The six-foot-four Revelle was often referred to as a “scientific giant”, both literally and figuratively. UC San Diego’s first …

Roger Federer (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player. As of 21 June 2010, he is ranked World No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He previously held the number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks and 285 total weeks, one week behind record holder Pete Sampras. Roger Federer began playing tennis when …

Rodrigo Millar, is a skillful Chilean midfielder of considerable experience, known for his well-timed runs into the box and his ability to pick out the right ball at the right time. After national coach Marcelo Bielsa brought the player back into the Chile squad in the final stretch of qualifying matches for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, Millar rapidly …

Robin van Persie — After a season blighted by an ankle injury that kept him out of action from November to mid-April, the Arsenal striker goes into the 2010 FIFA World Cup hungry to make his mark. The forward likened by club manager Arsene Wenger to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo contested less than a month at the end of …

Robert Vittek — With 18 goals in 69 international appearances, Robert Vittek is just four strikes short of the all-time Slovak goalscoring record, held by the now-retired Szilard Nemeth. If he is able to overcome this relatively minor hurdle, the second most capped player in the history of Slovak football will have left a lasting imprint on the game. Vittek …

Robert Ross (born Robert Rosen; December 26, 1918 – March 19, 2011) was the founder of the Ross University School of Medicine and the University of Medicine and Health Sciences (St. Kitts). Robert Ross, who is now 82 years of age and lives in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla. made his fortune in 1970’s. He grew up in very harsh …

Rob Pardo (born June 9, 1970) is Executive Vice President of Game Design at Blizzard Entertainment. Previously he was the lead designer of World of Warcraft. In 2006, he was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Pardo appears in animated form in the South Park episode Make Love, Not Warcraft, which …

Ricky Ponting — Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974), nicknamed Punter, is the current captain of the Australian cricket team. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He is regarded as one of Australia’s finest cricketers in the modern era. He represents the Tasmanian Tigers in Australian domestic …