Field, George Brooks (1929– )

US theoretical astrophysicist. His main research has been into the nature and composition of intergalactic matter and the properties of residual radiation in space.

One of Field's major areas of research has been to investigate why a cluster of galaxies remains a cluster rather than dispersing. They are thought to be stabilized gravitationally by intergalactic matter, mainly hydrogen and helium. By studying part of the spectrum of the radio source Cygnus A, Field found in 1958 some evidence of atomic hydrogen distributed intergalactically.Field has also carried out research into the lines in the spectra of stars.

Field was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. He became professor at the University of California at Berkeley 1965 and at Harvard University 1972; from 1973 he was also director of the Center of Astrophysics at the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.