Respectful Insolence

It’s never too late to finish what you started in science

Posted by Orac on July 13, 2007
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Case in point: Soon to be Dr. Brian May of Queen. After 33 years, he’s now going be an astrophysicist.

Rock on, Brian!

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Comments

  1. #1 notmercury
    July 13, 2007

    Well he’s already a genius on guitar so astrophysics should be a breeze for him.

    (see, not single Mercury or Uranus joke)

  2. #2 AJ Milne
    July 13, 2007

    That is just the coolest thing ever.

    Okay, so he’s a millionaire, some of the rest of us, not so much. Mebbe makes some of the logistics a little simpler. But still: yes, you can do an advanced degree later in life. Sometimes, anyway.

    Cool thesis, too.

  3. #3 Occam's Trowel
    July 13, 2007

    Very cool! I had thought about doing the same thing (not leaving a world-famous rock group, but going back into physics), but a colleague told me that, even then when I was 35, that departments would already see me as a liability among all the 25-year-olds. Glad to see that May didn’t have to worry about that!

  4. #4 Angela
    July 13, 2007

    As a HUGE Queen fan (dating back to 1973, when I was 5!), I read once that the members of Queen had more degrees (bachelor’s and advanced) than any other rock band — I believe all had at least a master’s degree. I believe Roger Taylor, the drummer, is a DDS, Freddie had an MFA, and John Deacon’s fiels is engineering. Remember the repeating lines in “Now I’m Here” and “The Prophet’s Song”? John actually built special microphones for those songs.

    Way to go, Brian May! I’ve loved you my whole life!

  5. #5 Chris Tucker
    July 13, 2007

    Dr. May will be joining MC Hawking and Buckaroo Banzai in the upcoming “Monsters of Science” tour.

  6. #6 knobody
    July 14, 2007

    that gives me hope. there may be life after kids afterall.

  7. #7 Occam's Trowel
    July 14, 2007

    I seem to recall that the members of The Hooters also had a surprising number of degrees in the sciences.

  8. #8 Mark
    July 14, 2007

    I study at Imperial, and have spoken to friends who have had slightly surreal realisations while standing in the library lifts…

  9. #9 brook
    July 14, 2007

    His mother must be so proud, now he’ll be able to get a “real” job.

    Really not much difference between rock idol and astrophysicist. They both like stars and work at night….

  10. #10 brook
    July 14, 2007

    His mother must be so proud, now he’ll be able to get a “real” job.

    Really not much difference between rock idol and astrophysicist. They both like stars and work at night….

  11. #11 Coin
    July 14, 2007

    brook, they can’t work in theoretical physics though. They keep breaking the strings.

  12. #12 brook
    July 15, 2007

    Of course not, air guitarists are the theoreticians.

  13. #13 DaveW
    July 23, 2007

    On the very first Queen album I ever heard (A Night at the Opera), the song which impressed me the most was ’39. It’s a haunting acoustic song about the human effects of Einsteinian time dilation. Not surprisingly, Brian wrote this one.

  14. #14 David D.G.
    July 23, 2007

    DaveW, that brief but beautiful song was my favorite as well!

    ~David D.G.