The UM community is saddened by the passing of Chemistry and Biochemistry Emeritus Professor Richard J. “Dick” Field on Sunday, December 4.  Dick was a long-time UM professor, mentor, leader, and scholar who had a significant impact on many students, colleagues, and academic programs at UM.

Professor Field received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1963, his Master of Science from the College of the Holy Cross in 1964, and his doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Rhode Island in 1968. From 1968 to 1974 he was a research associate with Professor Richard M. Noyes at the University of Oregon, where he conducted and published seminal research introducing the simplest realistic model of the chemical dynamics of the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. His publications on the BZ reaction are among the most highly cited in the chemical literature. Building on this work, Dick developed an interest in and conducted research on other systems maintained far from equilibrium and governed by nonlinear dynamic laws, including atmospheric and climate dynamics as well as the mechanisms by which living organisms organize and evolve. His most recent work involved nonlinear dynamics in psychology.  Dick authored more than 100 research articles in various scholarly journals. He was the editor of "Oscillations and Traveling Waves in Chemical Systems" in 1985 and "Chaos in Chemistry and Biochemistry" in 1993. Dick also had a substantial interest in the history of science, especially the professional, personal, and political lives of scientists responsible for the rapid development of quantum mechanics (and atomic energy, including nuclear weapons) in the early to the mid-20^th century.

Professor Field joined the faculty of the University of Montana Department of Chemistry as Assistant Professor in 1975.  In 1983 he was named UM Distinguished Researcher.  He served as Department Chair from 1990-95, and on ECOS from 1997-1999.  In 2005 he was awarded the Dennison Presidential Faculty Award.  Since his retirement in 2008, he served on the board and as a steering committee member for the UM Retirees’ Association.  Through more than forty years of service, mentorship and leadership, Dick was responsible for the advancement of the Department of Chemistry from a primarily undergraduate teaching program to the highly research-active undergraduate and graduate program that it is today. 

Professor Field also enjoyed the outdoors and was an avid hiker of the Bitterroot Mountains and other areas of the Pacific Northwest.  He enjoyed international travel and welcomed numerous international scholars to UM during his tenure as a professor. He dearly loved his family and was a constant presence at his grandchildren’s academic and athletic activities.