Christopher Field
{{Short description|American scientist}}{{Infobox person
| name = Christopher B. Field
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|03|12}}
| education = {{ubl|item_style={{longitem}}|Harvard College (AB)|Stanford University (PhD)}}
| occupation = Scientist
| employer = Stanford University Woods Institute for the Environment
| boards = {{ubl|item_style={{longitem}}|World Wildlife Fund|California Academy of Sciences}}
| awards = {{ubl|item_style={{longitem}}|Heinz Award(2009)|Max Planck Research Award(2013)|BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award(2013)|Roger Revelle Medal(2014)|Stephen H. Schneider Award(2015)|Japan Prize(2022)}}
| honours = {{ubl|item_style={{longitem}}|Member of the US National Academy of Sciences|Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences}}
}}
Christopher B. Field is an American scientist and researcher, who has contributed to the field of climate change. The author of more than 300 scientific publications, Field's research emphasizes impacts of climate change, from the molecular to the global scale. His work includes major field experiments on responses of California grassland to multi-factor global change, integrative studies on the global carbon cycle,{{Cite journal
| last = Ostrom
| first = Elinor
| authorlink =
|author2=Joanna Burger |author3=Christopher B. Field |author4=Richard B. Norgaard |author5=David Policansky
| title = Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges
| journal = Science
| volume = 284
| issue = 5412
| pages = 278–282
| date = 1999-04-09
| issn =
| doi = 10.1126/science.284.5412.278
| id =
| pmid=10195886| citeseerx = 10.1.1.510.4369
| bibcode = 1999Sci...284..278.
}} and assessments of impacts of climate change on agriculture.{{Cite journal
|last = Field
|first = Christopher
|authorlink =
|author2 = Michael J. Behrenfeld
|author3 = James T. Randerson
|author4 = Paul Falkowski
|title = Primary Production of the Biosphere: Integrating Terrestrial and Oceanic Components
|journal = Science Magazine
|volume = 281
|issue = 5374
|pages = 237–240
|date = 1998-07-10
|issn =
|doi = 10.1126/science.281.5374.237
|id =
|pmid = 9657713
|url = http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9gm7074q
|bibcode = 1998Sci...281..237F
|access-date = 2020-07-14
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180925215921/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gm7074q
|archive-date = 2018-09-25
|url-status = live
}} Field's work with models includes studies on the global distribution of carbon sources and sinks, and studies on environmental consequences of expanding biomass energy.{{cite web |last= |first= |authorlink= |title=Christopher Field, PhD |url=http://fsi.stanford.edu/people/christopherfield/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705211831/http://fsi.stanford.edu/people/christopherfield/ |archive-date=2014-07-05 |accessdate=2010-12-04 |website= |publisher=The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University |format= |doi=}}
Biography
Field was born in California in 1953.{{Cite web |title=Christopher B. Field, 6th Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change |url=https://www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/galardonados/christopher-b-field-2/ |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=Premios Fronteras |language=en |ref=bbvacite}} He grew up in California, Arizona and Wyoming, with his family moving around during his childhood in order to find the best locations for his father's sawmill. He describes most of his childhood memories as being associated with the wilderness. During junior high school, Field was inspired by "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau; he had a copy of the book that he would frequently annotate.{{Cite web |title=Chris Field {{!}} Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment |url=https://woods.stanford.edu/people/chris-field |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=profiles.stanford.edu |language=en}} He was a National Merit Scholar in high school.{{Cite web |title=The Japan Prize Foundation |url=https://www.japanprize.jp/en/prize_prof_2022_field.html |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=The Japan Prize Foundation |language=en}}
In 1975, Field graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in biology. He then went to Stanford University, where he received a PhD in biological sciences in 1981.{{Cite web |title=Chris Field |url=https://profiles.stanford.edu/7683 |access-date=April 6, 2025 |website=Stanford Profiles}} His dissertation Carbon gain consequences of leaf aging in a California shrub focused on how a leaf interacts with the rest of the plant's functions as a whole, as well as how to use data from leaves to measure photosynthesis in the surrounding environment.{{Cite web |title=Field, Christopher B. (1981) Carbon gain consequences of leaf aging in a California shrub. Ph.D. dissertation, Depart {{!}} Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve |url=https://jrbp.stanford.edu/research/publications/field-christopher-b-1981-carbon-gain-consequences-leaf-aging-california-shrub |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=jrbp.stanford.edu}} Field said he chose his thesis because of his curiosity for "how large parts of the Earth system are built from small pieces." He later credited this research on different biological scales as what led him to the carbon cycle and his work surrounding climate change.
{{Quote|text=As my work on scaling progressed, it ran quickly into the conclusion that the Earth is changing. Not only through big changes in climate, but also big changes in land use and the composition of the atmosphere, with more and more effects on plants and animals.|author=Christopher Field}}
From 1981 to 1984, Field was an associate professor of biology at the University of Utah. He became a staff scientist for the Carnegie Institution for Science in 1984 and in 1986 started working as an assistant professor at Stanford.
In 2002, Field founded Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology. This was the first new department to be established at the Carnegie Institute in 70 years.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-28 |title=BSE History |url=https://carnegiescience.edu/about/history/bse-history |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=carnegiescience.edu |language=en}}
In 2005, Field became faculty director of the Jasper Ridge Biological Reserve, a nature preserve run by Stanford. He worked to integrate Jasper Ridge with the main Stanford campus as director. While there, Field published 78 articles about his research at Jasper Ridge, more than any other individual.{{Cite web |title=Chris Field, JRBP’s outgoing faculty director, to lead the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment {{!}} Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve |url=https://jrbp.stanford.edu/news/chris-field-jrbp%E2%80%99s-outgoing-faculty-director-lead-stanford-woods-institute-environment |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=jrbp.stanford.edu}}
Since 2016, Field has served as director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. His research "focuses on climate change, especially solutions that improve lives now, decrease the amount of future warming, and support vibrant economies." Field's recent work has been centered around coastal flooding and wildfires, the latter being something California has seen an increase in over recent years.
IPCC and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize
Field worked for the United Nations as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when the organization received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.IPCC, 2007: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 7-22. The award was given to all of the scientists who contributed to IPCC reports "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."{{Cite web |date=2010-11-28 |title=Announcement {{!}} Nobels fredspris |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128001029/http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/laureates/laureates-2007/announce-2007/ |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=web.archive.org}} Field received a medal and a personalized reproduction of the Nobel Peace Prize diploma, saying he was "blown away" that the IPCC won.{{Cite web |title=Stanford researchers made key contributions to Nobel-winning climate panel |url=https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2007/10/stanford-researchers-made-key-contributions-nobel-winning-climate-panel |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=news.stanford.edu |language=en}}
Field served as co-chair of IPCC Working Group II from 2008 to 2015.{{Cite web |title=Christopher B. Field {{!}} Leaders {{!}} WWF |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/leaders/christopher-b-field |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=World Wildlife Fund |language=en-US}} In February 2015, the US State Department named him as one of the candidates for IPCC Chair.{{Cite web |date=2015-02-27 |title=Statement by the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, John P. Holdren, on Christopher Field's Candidacy for Chairmanship of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/11/16/statement-director-white-house-office-science-and-technology-policy-john |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206043322/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/11/16/statement-director-white-house-office-science-and-technology-policy-john |archive-date=2019-12-06 |access-date=2019-12-06 |website=whitehouse.gov |language=en}} The position ultimately went to Korean economist Hoesung Lee."[https://web.archive.org/web/20151007031851/http://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/ipcc42/151006_election_of_new_chair.pdf IPCC elects Hoesung Lee of Republic of Korea as Chair]" (PDF). Ipccc.ch. Archived from [http://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/ipcc42/151006_election_of_new_chair.pdf the original] (PDF) on 2015-10-07.
Personal life
Field is married with two adult children. His wife is also a scientist and works at Stanford's nature preserve. Neither of Field's children work in science; he said, "My child-rearing philosophy was to encourage them to pursue the things that interest them the most. I’d love to see the world with more scientists, but we also need people in lots of other professions."{{Cite web |title=Down to Earth With: Ecologist Chris Field |url=https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/down-earth-ecologist-chris-field |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=www.earthmagazine.org}}
Field regularly walks or bikes to where he needs to go. In 2014, he said that he and his wife had spent the last several years "restoring an old house to very high standards of energy efficiency." He also enjoys going for hikes and being out in nature.
References
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{{Japan Prize}}
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Category:American plant physiologists
Category:American climate activists
Category:Botanists active in California
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Category:Stanford University faculty
Category:Scientists from California
Category:20th-century American botanists
Category:21st-century American botanists
Category:Fellows of the Ecological Society of America
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)