Who Says Art and Science Don't Mix?

The following is a scenario that can hardly be described as unusual … a budding young musician abandons his day job to pursue his dreams of fame and fortune in a rock band.


Same old story. So far, so rock-and-roll.

But not quite. Brian May was not your average musician, and the career he turned his back on was anything but mundane. His is a backstory that breaks the mould.

It is a little-known fact that, before he came to prominence as the über-talented Queen guitarist, May was busy gaining a reputation of an altogether different kind - as a gifted astrophysicist!!

Yes - you read that correctly. The man who would go on to become a global superstar once devoted his energies to studying a distinctly different type of star - the celestial kind!

After graduating from Imperial College London with an honours degree (Bachelor of Science), May enrolled in the college's post-graduate astrophysics programme, specialising in the study of "reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust in the plane of the Solar System" ... quite a mouthful! Brian abandoned his studies halfway through this post-graduate course when Queen began to make headway on the music scene.

Astrophysics was not left behind completely though - Brian returned to Imperial College in 2007, and successfully finished his thesis on Interplanetary Dust a year later.

Subsequently, Brian accepted a research position at the same University, where he is continuing his astronomical studies.

And, of course, lets not forget his other crowning achievement - he was voted 7th greatest guitar player of all time by a Planet Rock poll in 2005!

With this in mind, Dr Brian Harold May BSc(Hons) DSc CBE could very well be considered the coolest scientist ever. (Dr. Brian Cox - eat your little heart out!)

If only he would do something about that hair ...