physics

Richard D. Field

Richard D. Field is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard D. Field rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Dryden Field Jr. (born April 13, 1944) is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

Key takeaways

Richard D. Field belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Richard D. Field to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Richard D. Field from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Richard Dryden Field Jr. (born April 13, 1944) is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. He is known particularly for his contributions to the phenomenology of particle production in high-energy particle accelerators.

Education and personal life Field was born in Pasadena, California, the son of actress Margaret Field and Richard Dryden Field, an Army officer. He was the stepson of actor/stuntman Jock Mahoney. His sister is Academy Award-winning actress Sally Field. Richard Field obtained his undergraduate education in physics at the University of California, Berkeley on a gymnastics scholarship, and continued with his PhD in 1971 under the supervision of John David Jackson.

Research Starting in 1971, he did post-doctoral work at Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 1973 he moved to California Institute of Technology to work with Nobel laureate Richard Feynman. It was there that he did his most-cited work, producing the "Field-Feynman" Monte Carlo used to compare the production of observable particles arising from the fragmentation of quarks and gluons in different particle accelerator environments. Two papers from this work, each with over 1000 citations, continue to be referenced as of 2021.

During this time he served as the PhD thesis advisor to computer-scientist/physicist Stephen Wolfram, who is CEO of Wolfram Research and was considered a physics prodigy in his student years. In 1980, Field moved to the University of Florida as a professor and, later, emeritus professor.

Honors He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1987, "for contributions to the application of the Quantum Chromodynamic theory of quarks and gluons to hadron hadron collisions and the concept of parton fragmentation".

References

External links University of Florida, Department of Physics - Richard Field, Professor Emeritus

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard D. Field

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard D. Field claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard D. Field before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard D. Field ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard D. Field

In research: Richard D. Field appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard D. Field in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard D. Field is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1943 births, 21st-century American physicists, American physicist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard D. Field outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard D. Field in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Richard D. Field means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Richard D. Field out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard D. Field in simple terms?

Richard Dryden Field Jr. (born April 13, 1944) is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

Why does Richard D. Field matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard D. Field?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard D. Field.