This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| Frank Howard Field | |
|---|---|
| Name | Frank Howard Field |
| Birth date | 1922-11-11 |
| Birth place | New York City |
| Death date | 2013-03-02 |
| Death place | Matawan, New Jersey |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Chemistry, Mass Spectrometry, Organic Chemistry |
| Workplaces | Exxon Research and Engineering Company; Rutgers University |
| Alma mater | City College of New York; Columbia University |
| Known for | Development of field ionization and field desorption techniques; ion chemistry of hydrocarbons |
Frank Howard Field was an American chemist noted for pioneering experiments in ion chemistry and the development of field ionization and field desorption methods that transformed analytical approaches in petroleum chemistry, organic ion chemistry, and mass spectrometry. His collaborative work with James P. McEwen and others bridged industrial research at Exxon with academic inquiry at Rutgers University, influencing instrumentation at Perkin-Elmer and shaping protocols used at U.S. National Institutes of Health and major laboratories worldwide. Field's career connected laboratories in New York City, industrial sites in New Jersey, and international conferences such as meetings of the American Chemical Society and the International Mass Spectrometry Conference.
Field was born in New York City and attended Brooklyn public schools before enrolling at the City College of New York, where he earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry. He pursued graduate studies at Columbia University under advisors associated with research in physical chemistry and spectroscopy, receiving a Ph.D. in the early 1940s. During his formative years he interacted with faculty and researchers linked to Bell Labs, the Carnegie Institution, and wartime research initiatives that also involved scientists from Harvard University and Princeton University. His academic mentors and contemporaries included figures active in analytic and physical chemistry who later held positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology.
After completing his doctorate, Field joined industrial research at the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company laboratories that later became part of Exxon Research and Engineering Company, where he spent the bulk of his industrial career. At Exxon he collaborated closely with James P. McEwen on studies of ionization phenomena, and the pair published influential papers that catalyzed developments at instrument manufacturers such as Perkin-Elmer and Varian. Field maintained strong ties with academic institutions, serving as a research associate and later adjunct faculty at Rutgers University where he mentored graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who went on to positions at Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin, and research centers in Europe and Japan.
Field organized and contributed to sessions at the American Chemical Society meetings and the Gordon Research Conferences on mass spectrometry, and he participated in advisory committees for the National Science Foundation and industrial consortia involving Standard Oil and international oil companies. His collaborations spanned instrument development teams at Analytical Instruments, Inc. and scientific partnerships with researchers at Imperial College London and the Max Planck Society.
Field is best known for conceptualizing and realizing field ionization (FI) and field desorption (FD) techniques that allowed soft ionization of hydrocarbons, biomolecules, and fragile organic compounds, dramatically reducing fragmentation compared with earlier electron ionization used in classical mass spectrometry. His work elucidated ion-molecule reactions of alkanes, alkenes, and aromatics, informing mechanistic models adopted by investigators at Shell Research and British Petroleum (BP). Field and collaborators characterized ionic rearrangements, proton transfer, and charge delocalization phenomena that influenced theoretical treatments developed at Princeton University and Caltech.
The FI and FD methods enabled routine analysis of high-boiling petroleum fractions and polymers, impacting analytical practice at national laboratories including the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Instruments incorporating Field’s principles were commercialized and deployed in pharmaceutical research at Merck and Pfizer as well as in academic mass spectrometry facilities at Yale University and University of Michigan. His students and coauthors established research groups focusing on ion chemistry at institutions such as University of Manchester and ETH Zurich, perpetuating his methodological legacy.
Field received recognition from major scientific organizations: awards and fellowships from the American Chemical Society, honors from the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, and invitations to deliver named lectures at Rutgers University and Columbia University. Industrial accolades came from Exxon for innovation in analytical technology, and international honors included symposiums held in his name at conferences hosted by the International Mass Spectrometry Foundation. He was elected a fellow of relevant professional societies and received lifetime achievement acknowledgments from instrument manufacturers and professional associations in Europe and the United States.
- Field, F. H.; McEwen, J. C. landmark articles on field ionization and field desorption published across journals read by researchers at Exxon, Rutgers University, and Perkin-Elmer. - Monographs and review chapters contributed to volumes compiled by editors affiliated with Academic Press and distributed to libraries at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Cambridge. - Numerous papers in proceedings of the American Chemical Society and the International Mass Spectrometry Conference, coauthored with scientists who later joined faculties at Stanford University and Cornell University.
Field lived in New Jersey near his workplace at corporate and university research centers, maintaining memberships in local chapters of the American Chemical Society and community scientific outreach programs tied to Rutgers University. He enjoyed collaborations and travel to laboratories in Canada and France, fostering international exchanges with researchers at CNRS and industrial labs such as TotalEnergies. Field died in Matawan, New Jersey, leaving a legacy carried forward by former students, industrial scientists, and instrument builders who continue to apply his field ionization principles across analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry.
Category:American chemists Category:Mass spectrometrists Category:1922 births Category:2013 deaths