Editing Vector field (section)

==Physical intuition==
[[File:Magnet0873.png|thumb|[[Magnetism|Magnetic]] field lines of an iron bar ([[magnetic dipole]])]]

[[Michael Faraday]], in his concept of ''[[lines of force]],'' emphasized that the field ''itself'' should be an object of study, which it has become throughout physics in the form of [[field theory (physics)|field theory]].

In addition to the magnetic field, other phenomena that were modeled by Faraday include the electrical field and [[light field]].

In recent decades many phenomenological formulations of irreversible dynamics and evolution equations in physics, from the mechanics of complex fluids and solids to chemical kinetics and quantum thermodynamics, have converged towards  the geometric idea of "steepest entropy ascent" or "gradient flow" as a consistent universal modeling framework that guarantees compatibility with the second law of thermodynamics and extends well-known near-equilibrium results such as Onsager reciprocity to the far-nonequilibrium realm.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Beretta | first1=Gian Paolo   | title=The fourth law of thermodynamics: steepest entropy ascent | journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A | volume=378 | issue=2170 | date=2020-05-01 | issn=1471-2962 | doi=10.1098/rsta.2019.0168 |  page=20190168| pmid=32223406 |arxiv=1908.05768 | bibcode=2020RSPTA.37890168B | s2cid=201058607 }}</ref>