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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,897 posts)
Thu Jul 19, 2018, 12:07 PM Jul 2018

Happy 71st birthday, astrophysicist Brian May.

But if astrophysics doesn't pan out, he has another career he can fall back on.

Previously at DU: Happy Birthday to my favorite astrophysicist!

Brian May

Brian Harold May, CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, astrophysicist, and photographer. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen, and in 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the band's members.
....

May was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for "services to the music industry and for charity work". May was awarded a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007 and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013. He was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. He is also a co-founder of the awareness campaign, Asteroid Day. Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named after him. May is also an animal rights activist, campaigning against the hunting of foxes and the culling of badgers in the UK.
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Early life

Brian Harold May was born in Hampton, Middlesex on 19 July 1947, the only child of Ruth and Harold May, who worked as a draughtsman at the Ministry of Aviation. His mother was Scottish, while his father was English. May attended the local Hampton Grammar School, then a voluntary aided school. During this time, he formed his first band, named 1984 after George Orwell's novel of the same name, with vocalist and bassist Tim Staffell.

At Hampton Grammar School, he attained ten GCE Ordinary Levels and three GCE Advanced Levels in Physics, Mathematics, and Applied Mathematics. He studied Mathematics and Physics at Imperial College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1968 with honours. In 2007, May was awarded a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London for work started in 1971 and completed in 2007.
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Scientific career

May studied physics and mathematics at Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc (Hons) degree and ARCS in physics with Upper Second-Class Honours. From 1970 to 1974, he studied for a PhD degree at Imperial College, studying reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System. When Queen started to have international success in 1974, he abandoned his doctoral studies, but co-authored two peer reviewed research papers, which were based on his observations at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife.

In October 2006, May re-registered for his PhD at Imperial College and submitted his thesis in August 2007 (one year earlier than he estimated it would take to complete). As well as writing up the previous work he had done, May had to review the work on zodiacal dust undertaken during the intervening 33 years, which included the discovery of the zodiacal dust bands by NASA's IRAS satellite. After a viva voce, the revised thesis (titled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud) was approved in September 2007, some 37 years after it had been commenced. He was able to submit his thesis only because of the minimal amount of research on the topic during the intervening years and has described the subject as one that became "trendy" again in the 2000s. His PhD investigated radial velocity using absorption spectroscopy and doppler spectroscopy of zodiacal light using a Fabry–Pérot interferometer based at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. His research was initially supervised by Jim Ring, Ken Reay and in the latter stages by Michael Rowan-Robinson. He graduated at the awards ceremony of Imperial College held in the Royal Albert Hall on 14 May 2008.
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Discography

With Queen

Main article: Queen discography

{snip}

So, show us some of this astrophysics stuff, okay?









No one would allow me to leave this out:



A few years older, a few added pounds:



A few more. "unblock" brought up "Killer Queen." That's too good to leave out.



9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Happy 71st birthday, astrophysicist Brian May. (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2018 OP
One of my Top 10 guitarists of all time... ADX Jul 2018 #1
the solo in killer queen unblock Jul 2018 #2
Thanks for the reminder. I just added it. NT mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2018 #3
Great solo but there are so many to choose from... ADX Jul 2018 #6
'39 makes me cry every time. Aristus Jul 2018 #4
Me too; incredible song... ADX Jul 2018 #5
More about that song: mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2018 #7
It just seems to confirm that there can be great beauty, and great pathos, Aristus Jul 2018 #8
I have always had a little bit of a crush on him. smirkymonkey Jul 2018 #9

unblock

(51,974 posts)
2. the solo in killer queen
Thu Jul 19, 2018, 12:16 PM
Jul 2018

sheer perfection. what a solo should be, not a "look at me" flashy solo, but a "fits the song perfectly" solo.

 

ADX

(1,622 posts)
6. Great solo but there are so many to choose from...
Thu Jul 19, 2018, 12:50 PM
Jul 2018

...his guitar work and use of feedback on "Sheer Heart Attack" from "News Of The World", the masterpiece that is "The Prophet's Song" from "Night At The Opera" and "White Man" from "Day At The Races"...

Stellar musician, stellar band.

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
4. '39 makes me cry every time.
Thu Jul 19, 2018, 12:43 PM
Jul 2018

I like to call it the saddest song ever written about Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

"For my life still ahead, pity me..."

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,897 posts)
7. More about that song:
Thu Jul 19, 2018, 12:51 PM
Jul 2018
A Night at the Opera (Queen album)
....

Composition

Side one
....

"'39"

Main article: '39

"'39" was May's attempt to do "sci-fi skiffle". "'39" relates the tale of a group of space explorers who embark on what is, from their perspective, a year-long voyage. Upon their return, however, they realise that a hundred years have passed, because of the time dilation effect in Einstein's special theory of relativity, and the loved ones they left behind are now all dead or aged.

May sings the song on the album, with backing vocals by Mercury and Taylor. During live performances, Mercury sang the lead vocal. May had asked bassist John Deacon to play double bass as a joke but a couple of days later he found Deacon in the studio with the instrument, and he had already learned to play it.

Since Queen had named their albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races after two of the Marx Brothers' most popular films, surviving brother Groucho Marx invited Queen to visit him at his Los Angeles home in March 1977 (five months before he died). The band thanked him, and performed "'39" a cappella.

George Michael performed "'39" at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on 20 April 1992. Michael cited this song as his favourite Queen song, claiming he used to busk it on the London Underground.

Recently, Queen have included the song on the setlists of their recent tours with Adam Lambert and before Adam with Paul Rodgers; for all these tours since 2005 it is sung as it is on the album by May.

So it's related to his day job. I did not know that. For the passage of time for the voyagers to occur at 0.01 that of a stationary person, the voyagers must have been traveling at something like 0.9999 the speed of light.

Time Dilation

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
8. It just seems to confirm that there can be great beauty, and great pathos,
Thu Jul 19, 2018, 12:58 PM
Jul 2018

in a seemingly dry and emotionless discipline like science.

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
9. I have always had a little bit of a crush on him.
Thu Jul 19, 2018, 10:09 PM
Jul 2018

Even more so when I found out that he was an astrophysicist. Queen was a little before my time and I discovered them a little later in life, but I was very impressed with him.

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