Via Asymptotia comes the news that Brian May got his degree!
Most people are surprised — I was when I first heard — that Brian May is actually a scientist. He had just started working on his PhD thesis when he got distracted by his guitar playing in some band or another. But he knew was gonna be a big man someday.
According to the article, his thesis is entitled Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud which actually sounds rather interesting to me. The Zodiacal dust cloud is a, well, cloud of dust in our solar system. It comes from the relentless grinding of asteroid collisions. Since asteroids tend to orbit the Sun in the same plane as the planets, the dust cloud is rather flattened, and is seen in the constellations of the zodiac, which are the ones in which we see the paths of the planets as they go around the Sun. An object’s radial velocity is its velocity toward or away from the Earth. The radial velocity of the Zodiacal dust will tell us about how the normal orbits of the dust grains are affected by gravity of the planets, or maybe the solar wind and other forces. I’m guessing a bit, as this isn’t my field and, of course, I haven’t read Dr. May’s thesis!
Maybe at some point I’ll give it a look over. But I’d better have good music playing in the background…
August 24th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Talented guy: He’s got a book out in collaboration with Patrick Moore & Chris Lintott of The Sky at Night about the Big Bang, and makes fairly frequent appearances on the show.
August 24th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Minor quibble, but he’s got his doctorate, not a degree. *:)
August 24th, 2007 at 10:11 am
Props to well rounded people! As an amateur musician who is also working on a doctorate, I’ve got a lot of respect for Dr. May.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:27 am
That’s great news… I learned about him being a physicist back in the 80s at an SF con… we were discussing whether or not the tune ’39 made reference to special relativity
August 24th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Who’d have known that – an astronomer and a great musician! Did you know he actually built his own guitar, the Red Special, which he uses pretty much all the time? They say he’s one hell of a nice guy, too.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Being a guitarist myself for 25 or so years I’ve been an admirer of Brian May for a long time. I’m really glad to see this. Very inspiring!
I have lots of video guitar lessons from Dr. May, and one of the things that was always interesting to me was how well thought out and intelligently presented things were compared to instructional videos from a lot of other guitarists/musicians, who, though talented, tend to be cavemen when you put a mike and camera on them. You could tell just by the way he talked and described things that he was an intellegent person.
I also think that it’s very honorable that he chose to earn a doctorate as opposed to just recieving an honorary degree.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:12 am
[...] May, Guitarist for the rock band Queen, was going to be defending his PhD thesis. Now comes the word that he has successfully defended his thesis and can now officially be called “Dr. [...]
August 24th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Hey, Phil! What do you think you’d have to do to snag an interview with Dr. May? That’s something I would love to see here!
August 24th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Kind of changes the meaning behind Another One Bites the Dust.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I’d recommend “39″ from the Night at the Opera album.
Listen to the words…it’s about relativistic time dilation!
A big congrats to Doctor Bri.
Cheers,
August 24th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Here’s what the man himself has to say about it:
http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssb.html
August 24th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
I’d always wondered about ’39. It seemed to be about time dilation, but surely not? How would a “mere” rock musician know enough and care enough about relativity to write a song about it? (In my defence, I was just a kid at the time, which would explain my arrogance. Kids know everything in their teens…)
But he can’t be all that intelligent. It took him 36 years to get his PhD, so he’s obviously a little slow…
[grabs coat and runs!]
August 24th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Awesome! Just one more reason why Queen is the greatest band of all time.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
This is the second time I’ve seen May mentioned in your blog.
It is also the second time you have failed to mention May’s irrational ideas concerning the Deep Impact mission.
This is your blog, so it’s your choice what you decide to include when bloging about someone, but this omission concerns me as it fails to provide an accurate “picture” of who Dr. May “is”.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Phil,
Nice reference to the lyrics of “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “We Will Rock You”.
I love the band, I love astrophysics, but RAF, I don’t know about the Deep Impact reference, care to provide some context?
Matt
August 24th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Certainly, Matt…it was covered On BAUT. Here is a link to the thread…
http://www.bautforum.com/space-exploration/18968-dr-brian-may-cbe-outraged-deep-impact-comet-mission.html
The link in the first post will take you to May’s blog where he made his “comments” concerning Deep Impact.
August 24th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Re: RAF’ comment above:
And just who “is” Dr. May?
It sounds like you’ve been watching too much X-Files, RAF.
I’ve read his statements regarding Deep Impact, and while there is a bit much drama in them, he was just stating his concerns. He obviously believes that scientific endeavors should exercise caution in their methods and a respect for nature, and there are plenty of rational people who agree with that view. The last time I checked, people were still allowed to disagree on the usefulness and potential risks of scientific endeavors. I think he was being over-the-top, but not everyone controls their emotions effectively. Maybe after years of showbiz he just hasn’t gotten the hang of being dry and boring yet!
So tell us, BA, what nefarious intentions were behind your decision to keep us in the dark about who Dr. May “is?” Could it be that you wanted to give the man his due for breaking the rock star stereotype of “drunk and stupid” and replacing it with “accomplished and intelligent?”
For the record-When I read Dr. May’s statements, they did strike my non-professional mind as being a bit hmmmm…non-professional, and hyperbolic. A little shrill and speculative, sure. Something worth hiding, though? Uhhhh, no. And since his statements(from before and after mission) are still available for anyone in the world to see, I don’t think anyone else is trying to hide them either. I do note that on the Baut forum, the comments that were critical of him were just opinions, as well. No deep thinking, no rational grounds, just “Well I think we should do it, so there.” Only one real rebuttal was offered, but there were plenty willing to criticize. To quote one commenter, “All I can say is; Brian, stick to playing guitar!”
Isn’t envy a terrible thing?
One last thing-I hated the Deep Impact mission as well, for entirely different reasons. It boils my bum that in this day and age, serious scientists have too stoop to using gimmicks from one of the worst sci-fi flicks ever just to get some space in the newspapers.
August 24th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
I expected that type of response…just forget I mentioned it…
August 24th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Mentioned what?
August 24th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Wow, some people must really have it out for Brian May. There was nothing unprofessional or egregious about his comments regarding Deep Impact at all. The people on that linked forum A) seem to think he knows nothing about astronomy and was handed all his degrees and B) attempt to group him in with astrologists and pseudoscientists for opposing a specific experiment (and disagreeing with them, basically). He was simply voicing a personal opinion on a blog, that perhaps we should rework a more precise experiment rather than potentially destroy something that we can learn a lot from, where’s the problem there?
August 24th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
[...] From BA: Bad Astronomy Blog » Fat bottomed astrophysicists [...]
August 24th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
[...] Source: http://asymptotia.com/2007/08/23/congratulations-brian-may Also, check out Dr. Plaits Post: http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/08/24/fat-bottomed-astrophysicists/ [...]
August 25th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Yeah…I must “have it out for him” because I disagree with him.
That’s “solid” reasoning.
I said IRRATIONAL. Why the need to “put words” in my mouth??
Best not to paint your characterizations with such a WIDE brush. (Excluding myself), “the people on that forum” are some of the same people who post to this blog.
As was I…yet I am somehow automatically wrong, and May is right.
Ever hear the term “cult of personality”?
August 25th, 2007 at 11:45 am
I tried to copy/paste ECW’s post, but for some reason it didn’t work…which is why the above post seems so “disjointed”.
If you reads his post, then my post it’ll make a bit more sense.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
There’s nothing irrational about May’s stance on the Deep Impact experiment.
It’s simply that the experiment was designed with the attitude of early archaeologists who just tore everything up to get at the neat relics, whereas Brian May’s attitude is more like the modern approach of carefully digging millimeter by millimeter, being minimally destructive, and recording everything precisely.
Also, RAF, you appear to discount the possibility of being surprised.
August 25th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Some years ago, there was a PhD physicist at MIT that offered the opinion,”Of the ten finest minds on this planet, six of those are playing music in the Grateful Dead,,,”
I guess the Seventh was playing music in Queen.
Go Dr. May!!!
Gary 7
August 25th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Brian May, PhD: world’s most sought-after postdoc.
Boneheadfx wrote: “I also think that it’s very honorable that he chose to earn a doctorate as opposed to just recieving an honorary degree.”
I believe he has honorary degrees also… but he *still* went to complete his PhD.
If I’m not mistaken, the reason he went back to complete it is that he found out that not much had been done on zodiacal dust, so his original work would still be relevant.
If he’d had to start from scratch, he might not have bothered, and I can’t say I’d blame him.
August 25th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
I disagree. It’s called an opinion. Please forgive me if it doesn’t happen to agree with yours.
So I guess you feel it’s “OK” to be insulting to all the Deep Impact mission scientists…after all, how could they “possibily” know more than DR. May…right??
I can’t believe that you believe this “crap”.
…and the cult of personality grows ever stronger…
August 25th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Do you mean this line “Oh so many years have gone though I’m older but a year”?
Just checking.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
“So I guess you feel it’s “OK†to be insulting to all the Deep Impact mission scientist”
Oh tempora, oh mores!
Scientists with strong words about other scientists and their methods is pretty traditional, is it not?
August 25th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Mention what ?
August 25th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
RAF,
It is ok for May, or anyone, to hurl insults in the general direction of the Deep Impact scientists. That’s the way it works in a free society. He may be right; he may be wrong. But the project scientists aren’t privileged against public criticism, even ignorant criticism, if that happens to be the case.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:15 am
“Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud” + “I’d better have good music playing in the background” = a rock opera designed for a planetarium show
August 27th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Mark Martin wrote:
“It is ok for May, or anyone, to hurl insults in the general direction of the Deep Impact scientists. That’s the way it works in a free society. He may be right; he may be wrong. But the project scientists aren’t privileged against public criticism, even ignorant criticism, if that happens to be the case.”
Actually, Mark, there is a significant difference between criticism and insults. By all means, anyone is free to criticise the Deep Impact experiment. But this does not mean that anyone should be free to abuse the team, verbally or in text. (There is also a grey area in between that could be termed “rhetorical hyperbole” which is more often tolerated than not.)
In a similar vein, if Dr. May uttered his criticism from a position of ignorance about the specifics of the experiment, he should be criticised in turn for not taking the time to become fully informed.
I also take RAF’s point that Dr. May’s comments may carry more weight with the fans of Queen than would the comments of any other PhD astronomer.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Nigel,
I have to take issue with the notion that May has abused the Deep Impact team. As I recall he didn’t even mention specific names; all he did was condemn the methodology on his own website. I tend to think he’s entitled to do such a thing. Is he not?
And I heartily agree that he’s subject to counter-criticism. I never proposed to the contrary. I’d say that my earlier statement implies this.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Of course the author of [The Dynamics of an Asteroid] also was better-known in a different line of work, up to a point – not to mince works, “as famous among crooks… as he is unknown to the public.” I haven’t read it myself; any good?
August 28th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
“He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom,” I suppose.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
…and, on reflection, movie-title-space-mission-wise, I don’t want to hear that anyone named a comet “Alfredo-Garcia”. Or “Smoochy”.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Jon H:
“If I’m not mistaken, the reason he went back to complete it is that he found out that not much had been done on zodiacal dust, so his original work would still be relevant.”
You’re seriously wrong, thankfully …
To Phil: comets have a large input into the zody cloud too. The biggest question to interplanetary dust scientists in the last 30 years is the relative proportion to the zodiacal cloud of comets and asteroids (and to lesser extent: meteor streams, interstellar dust, circumplanetary dust, Kuiper belt dust …) because it tells us of the dust evolution over time of our solar system which feeds into other large questions. Such as what happened to the mass of the asteroid belt, how can we remove the foreground dust properly to see the CMB (here cosmologists meet dust scientists: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~lgg/bicep_front.htm), and how can we detect planet signatures through the dust in extrasolar systems? Planetary signatures through the dust are characterized well, btw.
And did you know that a recent analysis of Helios data detected a Solar System heliocentric ring? The Earth dust ring was the first (with IRAS, I think), and now we have a Venus dust ring: http://it.arxiv.org/abs/0708.0912v1
Ciao,
Amara
May 16th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
[...] line?) and a musical genius. Brian May is an astounding guitarist, an all around nice guy, and a real life astrophysicist! Yes, they wrote dramatic, campy music, but I love dramatic, campy music. (And love Bohemian [...]
March 30th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Where would i go to see / buy a copy of his 48,000 word thesis?