Slashdot Mirror
Brian May, Rock Legend, Soon-To-Be Astrophysicist
xPsi writes "Brian May, the guitarist for the legendary rock band Queen (age 60), has finally decided to submit his Ph.D. thesis in astrophysics. The title is 'Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud.' From the article: 'May was studying astrophysics at Imperial College when he formed Queen with singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor in 1970. He dropped his doctorate research into interstellar dust as the band met with increasing success.' And, hey, if this whole Rock-n-Roll thing doesn't pan out, at least he'll have something to fall back on."
I realize that you were being humorous, but it's worth mentioning regardless.
_ Metal_Music
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corna#Rock_and_Heavy
Peace sells, but who's buying?
I think one of the contributing factors to be considered is that he's rather well off financially, won't have to work another single day in his life again and is basically free to do as he damn well pleases. I think in such circumstances, quite a few older people would be able to finish their studies, especially in a field that has become a life-long passion (which is rather the norm with astronomers than an exception). Kudos for Brian May for pulling this one off though, it's hard work even *with* a lot of passion involved.
Ever wondered whats wrong with the world? http://www.ishmael.org/
I'm afraid I have to concur with the other poster. As someone with a doctorate myself, I really don't see why you would need a second PhD. There is really no need to attempt a new PhD - your previous one should allow you to move straight into other fields and start producing immediately.
;) The only place I see mention of multiple PhD holders is in American fiction such as television and Hollywood movies. I'm sure some people go for it. But it seems more of an exercise in intellectual wankery than a proper application of one's abilities.)
If the field is very different, you can always do a DipGrad or equivalent (something to bring you up to speed). Really, at the point of holding a PhD, you should be capable of taking a year or two of preparation at most, and then working at a postdoctoral level.
(And I somewhat agree with the "you must be American" jibe of the other poster's as well
It sounds like he is a real life Buckaroo Banzai, like in the 1984 movie "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension." Buckaroo Banazi was a rock star, particle physicist, neurosurgeon, and race car driver. So, it really is possible to do all that! That was the movie where Earth was invaded by aliens flew around in space ships which looked like giant sea shells.
Buckaroo Banzai
Brian May's a bit of a hacker. Most of his music was played on a guitar he built himself.
For example: "The tremolo system is made from an old hardened-steel knife-edge shaped into a V and two motorbike valve springs to counter the string tension."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Special
Environmentalism is the new Victorianism. Everyone ties on a green corset and pretends we're virtuous.
In the early days, Queen had a bit of a rep as the intellectuals of rock. I had a friend who looked after the significant others of Queen whilst they were touring Germany many years ago and she maintained occasional contact over the years. Apparently other than Freddie who was absolutely bonkers but a brilliant artist, the rest of the band were very friendly with stable families and seemed quite normal.
See my journal, I write things there
You mean because I have a PhD in English I can qualify to work as a postdoc physicist in only 2 years?
No. Ph.D.'s are about how to do research. Many fields share research methodology, some don't. So, if you have an English Ph.D., then a Physics Ph.D. may teach you something, but a French Ph.D. might not be.
http://woodside.blogs.com/cosmologycuriosity/2006/ 05/queens_39_and_r.html
http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/04/26/relatively-pl easant/
The zodiacal dust is actually dust in our own solar system - you can see it at dawn and dusk as the zodiacal light. However, one suggestion in Brian May's thesis is that there may be a component of the zodiacal dust that is interstellar. It's something that future observations he's proposing could test.
It's interesting to note that very little has been done on the zodiacal light since he started his PhD work in the early 70s. However, the next generation of cosmic microwave background satellites like Planck will need improved knowledge of foreground dust so that its contaminating emission can be removed. This has added new interest and impetus to the kind of studies that Brian May is resurrecting.
FTA:Greg Fryer, an Australian guitar luthier, produced 3 copies of the Red Special in 1996/97 with permission from May, who allowed Fryer to x-ray the body for information on the internal cavities in the body, taking exhaustive body measurements for CAD/CAM reproduction, Fryer named his three replicas John, Paul and George. May has 2 of these guitars, John and George while Fryer kept Paul, which was built with slightly different tone woods for a "more aggressive edge" tonally, for himself.
I found this statement odd, since I have always found May's sound to be extremely aggressive and forward. Kind of the antithesis of Mark Knopfler. IMHO, the Queen songs that have turned into sports anthems (We Will Rock You, We are the Champions), have some of the most aggressive guitar riffs in any music.
Patrick Moore is extremely old and sooner or later will permanently stop presenting the show. Brian May is appearing on the show more and more frequently as time goes by. Someone is needed who (a) knows astronomy and physics thoroughly enough to maintain standards, and who (b) can hold the attention of an audience. I spy a candidate...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
From the article it seems his thesis is on interstellar dust which is a pretty hot topic among astronomers right now. It's also a topic which requires use of big infrared telescopes which have come into common usage in the recent years. Personally I'm jealous, the man is on cutting edge in every field of endeavour.
Does this
Hardly. Brian used to have an inferiority complex of truly astronomical proportions about his appearance... as for meeting chicks... thanks to his total lack of any dating skills, one of the best Queen songs was written - White Queen (well, technically, it was written before Queen was formed, but it appears on band's 2nd album, cause Smile never recorded it...) http://youtube.com/watch?v=hyQZ1QOtJA8