Martin Davidson, 80, Johns Hopkins physicist

Martin Davidson, a retired Johns Hopkins physicist and musician, died Wednesday of Alzheimer's disease at the Millennium Health Center in Ellicott City. The Bethesda resident was 80.

Born in New York, he earned a degree in physics from City College of New York in 1943, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

After serving in the Army during and after World War II, he worked in classified defense and research projects at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Howard County for 30 years. He retired in the late 1980s.

He was a member of the American Recorder Society and donated a collection of Renaissance music to the Peabody Conservatory in 2000. He organized an ensemble of musicians at the Applied Physics Lab and regularly played in local recorder ensembles.

Services will be held at noon tomorrow at Sol Levinson & Bros., 8900 Reisterstown Road.

Mr. Davidson is survived by his wife of more than 59 years, the former Clara Prager; two sons, Dr. Joseph Davidson of Columbia and Dr. Arthur Davidson of Pittsburgh; two daughters, Sara Maddox of Gaithersburg and Judy Laue of Mount Airy; and six grandchildren.