The concept of the electric field was introduced by Michael Faraday.

An electric field is created by a charged

body in the space that surrounds it, and results in a force exerted on any other charges placed within the field.
The electric field acts between two charges in a similar manner to the way that the gravitational field acts
between two masses, and like it, extends towards infinity and shows an inverse square relationship with
distance.[29] However, there is an important difference. Gravity always acts in attraction, drawing two masses
together, while the electric field can result in either attraction or repulsion. Since large bodies such as planets
generally carry no net charge, the electric field at a distance is usually zero. Thus gravity is the dominant force at
distance in the universe, despite being much weaker.[30].