The Lure of the Academy

[eve_prime]

"Brian May is completing his doctorate in astrophysics, more than 30 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."

Read more (AP

Comments

[ecila_etc]

that's what I thought but apparently it's just that it's really obsure astronomy, so no one had 'scooped' him and his data was still valid.

he's been hanging around campus a lot the last year or so, from all reports he went and studied and brought it up to date as well as writing it up.

[imluxionverdin]

That's fantastic. Well done to him.

[egretplume]

I believe Brian May stayed interested in astronomy over the years. His blog goes on about astronomy quite a bit. He co-authored a popular science nonfiction book in recent years with a more famous astronomer.
So I don't think they were just being nice to him, except perhaps by waiving a deadline or something, as they would for anyone sufficiently wealthy, I'm sure.

I am happy for Brian, though he was never my favorite, but a return to academia is much to be desired over another oldies tour with a subpar replacement singer.

[northrop_fried]

Well, apparently that blog you link to says he's not done yet-- but he'll be submitting in early August-- was misquoted by the press.

I feel for the guy.

[eve_prime]

Yeah, the AP article had said he'd be submitting in the next two weeks.

I wonder if his univ. has open-to-the-public defenses?

[elricmelnibone]

I like that amazon.com pairs the book with one by Freddy Mercury.

[egretplume]

Because Freddie's the biggest star of all :)