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."

Comments

Re:Studies

[deftcoder]

I realize that you were being humorous, but it's worth mentioning regardless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corna#Rock_and_Heavy_ Metal_Music

Re:Cool

[hoover]

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.

Buckaroo Banzai

[Rick17JJ]

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

He also built his own guitar ... from a fireplace

[permaculture]

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

Re:He recently released a book as well.

[hughk]

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.

39 and Time Dilation

[TomHandy]

Since no-one's mentioned it, the Brian May song for Queen, '39', is about time dilation, although in a subtle way. That is, he composed it about the idea of some space travelers leaving earth on a mission, taking a year in their time, but when they return to Earth, 100 years have passed.

http://woodside.blogs.com/cosmologycuriosity/2006/ 05/queens_39_and_r.html

http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/04/26/relatively-pl easant/

Not interstellar... probably

[davecl]

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.

Brian May's current work

[meringuoid]

Every British astro-geek knows who Patrick Moore is. Mad monocled xylophone-playing astronomer, who has presented the programme The Sky at Night since the days when we didn't even know what the other side of the Moon looked like. This show is an institution. Generations of astronomers grew up watching it. Every other science show on the BBC has dumbed down into nonsense - apocalypse of the week shows, mostly. The Sky at Night on the other hand is a proper old-fashioned science show.

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...