Brian May has more in common with Isaac Newton than just great hair. The guitar legend rose to fame as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the rock band Queen, but beyond his musical accomplishments is a lesser known pursuit of physics.
May attended Hampton Grammar School where he formed his first band, 1984, and excelled in mathematics, physics, and applied mathematics. This led him to earn a bachelors degree in Physics from Imperial College London while still pursuing his passion for music. Shortly after graduating from college, May entered a PhD program in astrophysics at Imperial College London, around the same time he first formed Queen.
After four years of study, he abandoned his scientific research to dedicate himself full-time to Queen, which was rapidly gaining success internationally. In 2006, 32 years after he quit the PhD program, May felt inspired to finish up his dissertation and receive his degree. The topic of his research, Zodiacal light, went relatively unresearched during his break, allowing him to finish and revise his thesis in only a year. Zodiacal light is a misty diffuse cone of light appearing after sunset in the West and before sunrise in the East and is caused by the reflection of sunlight on space dust. May specifically examined the radial velocities of Zodiacal cloud dust.
Since obtaining his PhD, May has become more involved in the science community. May was made a visiting researcher at Imperial College a few months after receiving his PhD. in 2014, he co-founded Asteroid Day as a global awareness campaign inviting people from around the world to learn about asteroids, the dangers they present to the planet, and what people can do protect the planet. In 2015, May worked with NASA to interpret data from the New Horizons interplanetary space probe's flyby study of Pluto. He also made an appearance on the 700th episode of Sir Patrick Moore's astronomy documentary series The Sky at Night, the show that ignited May's lifelong passion for astronomy as a child.
May isn't the musician with a secret life as a scientist. Greg Griffin of Bad Religion holds a PhD in zoology, Mira Aroyo of Ladytron has a PhD in genetics, and Art Garfunkel of Simon & Garfunkel earned a master's degree in Mathematics and began work on a PhD in the subject, though he has yet to finish his.
Brian May's dedication to both of his passions, music and astronomy, has brought him great success and shows that people should never be afraid to return to long-forgotten dreams. It may have taken 36 years, but Dr. Brian May can proudly showcase his PhD alongside his numerous music awards. A pursuit of science has given May a new life in his later years and he will hopefully continue to share his love for science for years to come.
