14 DAY TRIAL // Brian May was the lead guitarist and backing (sometimes lead) vocalist for the English rock band Queen for almost forty years. In addition to being famous for writing the band's biggest hits, "We Will Rock You", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "Tie Your Mother Down", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "I Want It All," he's also an astrophysicist about to receive his doctoral degree.
More than thirty years after he abandoned his studies to form the rock group Queen, the 60-year-old guitarist and songwriter said he plans to submit his thesis, "Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud," to supervisors at Imperial College London within the next two weeks.
He was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when Queen formed and dropped his doctorate as the rock band became more and more successful. But he did manage to co-author two scientific research papers: MgI Emission in the Night-Sky Spectrum and An Investigation of the Motion of Zodiacal Dust Particles (Part I), which were based on Brian's observations in Tenerife.
May told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he had always wanted to complete his degree. "It was unfinished business," he said. "I didn't want an honorary Ph.D. I wanted the real thing that I worked for." His interest in astronomy was revived and he co-wrote the paper Bang! The Complete History of the Universe which was published last year.
He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in November 2002 by the University of Hertfordshire, but this title was not enough for him, as he wanted to feel that he deserves the title for this scientific work and not due to his fame as an artist.
The guitarist is also a regular contributor to the BBC The Sky At Night program, hosted by Patrick Moore.