Dale Corson, 97, former Cornell president

ITHACA -- Dale Corson, a physicist and former president of Cornell University who led the university through the tumultuous last years of the Vietnam War, died yesterday at age 97.

Cornell spokesman Blaine Friedlander said Corson died in Ithaca, where he lived.

Corson became president of the Ivy League university in 1969 during the era of student activism sparked by Vietnam, and his tenure lasted until 1977, spanning the recession of the 1970s.

He was credited with returning the university to stability and with expanding academic departments, including geology and biological sciences. Corson added new programs such as medieval studies and encouraged such multidisciplinary programs as science, technology and society.

While working on his doctorate in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, he was one of the discoverers of the radioactive element astatine.

Corson first came to Cornell as an assistant professor of physics in 1946. He went on to become chairman of the physics department and dean of the College of Engineering before assuming the president's job. After stepping down as president, he was chancellor of the university for three years.

He co-authored the textbook "Introduction to Electromagnetic Fields and Waves."