Dale Corson, 'hall of famer'

Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman applauds President Emeritus Dale Corson as Corson watches while his portrait is unveiled Dec. 1 in Clark Hall. The Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), the nationally renowned interdisciplinary research group, is creating the beginnings of a hall of fame in the first-floor offices of Clark Hall. Last summer the center installed a portrait of its first director, Robert Sproull. On Dec. 1, it honored Corson, its second "hall of famer." As a professor of physics, Corson first proposed such a center in the late 1950s and, with his colleagues, helped shepherd it when it opened for business as the Cornell Materials Science Center in July 1960 under the aegis of the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency. The National Science Foundation took over the funding in 1972, using the renamed CCMR as a flagship center for what has become a national network of 28 materials research centers at major U.S. universities. Also present at the unveiling were Presidents Emeriti Hunter Rawlings and Frank Rhodes. CCMR's members include nearly 100 faculty members from 10 Cornell departments. Jon Reis Photography