RODET, Léon. 1832? — 1895. French Oriental Scholar and Historian of Mathematics. Several internet sources (e.g. wikidata) give the impossible 1850 as his birth year (1832? in DataBnF). Studies at École polytechnique, Paris, then living in Paris styling himself only as a member of Société Asiatique, which perhaps indicates employment…
ROCKHILL, William Woodville. Philadelphia, Pa. 1.4.1854 — Honolulu 8.12.1914. U.S. Diplomat, Traveller, Sinologist and Tibetan Scholar. Son of Thomas Cadwalader Rockhill (1819–1871) and Dorothea Anne Woodville (1823–1913). Lost his father when 13 (but ancestors.familysearch.org claims he died 19.2.1854) and the mother settled in Paris to avoid the Civil War. Studies…
ROCCA, Vittorio. Leghorn 1.10.1862 — 19??. Italian Indologist. Docent in Rome. Studies at Pisa. From 1905 libera docenza in sanscrito at Pisa, apparently soon moved to Rome, still there in 1934. A specialist of dharmaśāstra, but also a fascist. Publications: Sulla valore della parola “barbaro” in India, in Grecia, in…
ROBINSON, Richard H. Carstairs, Alberta 21.6.1926 — Madison 6.8.1970. Canadian Buddhist Scholar in the U.S.A. Professor in Madison. Son of a farmer, of Scottish-Irish ancestry. Educated in Carstairs, learned Chinese from a Chinese friend. In 1944-47 studies of economics, French and German at University of Alberta (B.A. 1947), then Chinese,…
ROBERTS, Sydney Gordon. 18?? — 19??. British Civil Servant in South India. In 1899 already there, 1915-18 District Judge in Cuddalore, then retired. Back in the U.K. he was Lecturer in Tamil and Telugu at Oxford (1924). He collected Tamil proverbs, assisted the preparation of Tamil Lexicon, and was keenly…
ROADARMEL, Gordon Charles. Kharagpur, West Bengal 2.2.1932 — Berkeley 15.6.1972. U.S. Indologist (Hindi Scholar). Son of missionary parents, grew up in India, educated in Mussoorie (graduated from Woodstock School). In 1948 came to U.S.A., studied at Wooster College, Ohio (B.A. 1954 in English). After one year at Chicago Theological Seminary…
RIVARA, Joaquim Heliodoro da Cunha. Arraiolos, Évora dt. 23.6.1809 — Évora 20.2.1879. Portuguese Physician, Colonial Civil Servant and Oriental Scholar, Specialist of Konkani and Marathi. Son of Italian father, Dr. António Francisco R. and and Maria Isabel da Cunha Feio Castelo Branco, of Spanish origin. Educated in Évora, then studies…
RITTER, Pavlo Grigorovič (Russian Pavel Grigor’evič Ritter). Čutove, Poltava obl. 5.4.1872 — 17.4.1939. Ukrainian Indologist, Literary Historian, Critic, etc. Professor in Harkiv. Son of the manager of a landed estate. Studies at Harkiv under Ovsjaniko-Kulikovskij, mainly Slavic, but also Sanskrit. Graduated 1894. Further studies of Sanskrit in 1895-96 under Geldner in…
RISCH, Ernst. Moscow 9.10.1911 — Kilchberg, Zürich 1.9.1988. Swiss IE and Mycenaean Linguist. Professor in Zürich. Born in Russia in a Swiss family, son of Carl Theodor Risch and Anna Mors. His father was commercial director of a cotton factory, when this was taken by the state the family moved…
RIEU, Charles Pierre Henri. Geneva 8.6.1820 — London 19.3.1902. Swiss Indologist and Oriental Scholar in the U.K. Professor of Arabic in Cambridge. Son of an officer (later the first syndic of Geneva), Jean Louis Rieu (1788–1868), and Françoise Lasserre. After Geneva Academy studies of Arabic (Freytag, Gildemeister), Sanskrit (Lassen), etc.…