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Brian May, Rock Legend, Publishes His Thesis
Posted by
kdawson
on Saturday August 02, @06:45PM
from the eyes-just-like-a-laser-beam dept.
from the eyes-just-like-a-laser-beam dept.
A year ago we took note when Brian May, guitarist for Queen for the last 30 years, submitted his thesis for a Ph.D. in astrophysics. The news now is that the thesis has been published. You, too, can read all about the population of tiny asteroids and space dust that cause the Zodiacal light. The completed thesis appears as the book "A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud" (Springer and Canopus Publishing Ltd., 2008), available at Amazon for $71.96. May was awarded his Ph.D. last summer and accepted a position as chancellor at a British university in November.
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Brian May, Rock Legend, Soon-To-Be Astrophysicist 169 comments
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."
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Too pricey (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Too pricey (Score:5, Informative)
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Rock music (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Rock music (Score:5, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe. I'd heard calls to make scientists into rockstars, but never rockstars into scientists!
Full thesis title (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Full thesis title (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder if he used a radio-ga-ga telescope to get his data?
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Re:Full thesis title (Score:5, Funny)
The rotation of oscillating rotational planets, as influenced by female homo sapiens with large gluteal regions.
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Two down, two to go (Score:5, Funny)
Now all he needs to do is learn how to do brain surgery and start making movies.
If you don't get the joke, rent this one:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/ [imdb.com]
and watch the extended version
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Professors (Score:5, Funny)
His astrophysicist professors kept arguing with him that despite his assertions, fat-bottomed girls did not make the world go round.
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Re:Professors (Score:5, Funny)
However, it appears that travelling at the speed of light would make a supersonic man out of you.
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Dedicatory (Score:4, Funny)
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Good for him (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure beats getting coked out and dying in a gutter like some other rock legends.
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Re:Good for him (Score:5, Funny)
As someone going for their PhD, I have to wonder if it actually does.
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And he still plays! (Score:5, Informative)
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Beyond impressed (Score:4, Interesting)
To an opera singer who is wading into comp. sci. / AI / brain science (and rapidly getting submerged, I must admit), this is rather inspiring.
Come on, Neil Peart! Don't let the guitarists get all the PhD's!
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Re:Beyond impressed (Score:4, Insightful)
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WIth a cool doctoral dissertation like that (Score:5, Funny)
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My opinion (Score:3, Informative)
I didn't read the article, but Brian May is one of the greatest unsung guitar heroes still alive.
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Rock legend becoming a PhD? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now a PhD becoming a rock legend on the other hand. That would be news! Becoming a rock legend is not an ordinary everyday occurrence.
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Obligatory Simpson's (Score:4, Funny)
Homer: "Rock stars- they know everything!"
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I think... (Score:5, Funny)
...he's going to be the only person in academic history to actually generate any income from selling his Ph.D thesis.
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He's no Buckaroo Bonzai (Score:4, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
He isn't going to publish it on a public source because he is
following the advice of everyone on Slashdot and adding some form of
value added feature to his music. At $71 a print he can make enough
money to support his touring habit and get all the money that the
labels never paid out from their lawsuits-to-protect-the-artists.
Think of it as a very expensive tour shirt except that has a lot more /end insane_justification
text on it and you can't get it on a tour.
Re:The real question is... (Score:5, Funny)
Is Brian May a LaTeX user? Perhaps he could write a song about it.
I Want to Break Free?
Chinese Torture?
I'm Going Slightly Mad?
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