Boris (Bob) Batterman, Cornell's Walter S. Carpenter Jr. Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics Emeritus, died Dec. 14 at his home in San Francisco. He was 80 years old.

Batterman joined the Cornell faulty in 1965 as a professor in both the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the School of Applied and Engineering Physics. He served as chair of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics from 1974 to 1978, after which he became director of the newly established Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, a national laboratory for synchrotron radiation research.

In 1983 Batterman received the Humboldt Award from the Federal Republic of Germany, and in 1985 he was named the Walter S. Carpenter Jr. Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell.

In 2001 Batterman retired from Cornell and spent much of his time in San Francisco, where he continued to be active in science with positions both at Stanford University and the University of California-Berkeley.

Born Aug. 25, 1930, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Batterman attended Brooklyn Tech and Cooper Union in New York before earning his undergraduate degree in 1952 and his Ph.D. in physics in 1956, both at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Batterman's interests were varied; he climbed the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps in 1960, an accomplishment of which he was most proud. He raced sailboats, collected and worked on old automobiles, and was an amateur astronomer.

He is survived by his longtime partner, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. A memorial service is planned for the spring and will be announced on a future date.