Queen guitarist brian may phd

Brian May became our fourth Chancellor in 2007 (with his official installation at St George's Hall in 2008) after he was made an Honorary Fellow of the university. The Fellowship was awarded in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Arts, and for encouraging the public understanding of science following publication of his book, Bang! The Complete History of the Universe, co-authored with Chris Lintott and Sir Patrick Moore, who was also an LJMU Honorary Fellow.

The appointment of a rock star as Chancellor is not as strange as it might seem given the links between his work as an astronomer and the university's acclaimed Astrophysics Research Institute. May studied astrophysics at Imperial College London and then embarked on a PhD, suspending his studies in 1974 to take what turned out to be a 33-year hiatus to be the lead guitarist for Queen, one of Britain's most successful rock groups.

Remarkably he re-registered for his PhD in 2006, and less than a year later submitted it successfully, coinciding appropriately with his new role at LJMU.

Having been a student himself twice, he brought a keen interest to the university, engaging with students and staff alike, with graduation being the high point of his role each year.

Online viewers report a meme stating that Brian May, the lead guitarist of the rock group Queen, is also an astrophysicist.

The facts: Among others, May wrote "We Will Rock You," "Fat Bottomed Girls," "Save Me" and "The Show Must Go On," all out-of-this-world Queen songs.

And he's also an astrophysicist.

What brought his other "career" to the forefront recently was May's visit to the team behind NASA's New Horizons interplanetary space probe to discuss results from the recent fly-by of Pluto.

May, who has a doctorate in astrophysics from Imperial College in London, was also added as a New Horizons science collaborator by mission principal investigator Alan Stern, Snopes.com reported.

May also wrote about his experience in a blog on his website on July 25:

"I was, of course, as always, obsessed with finding stereoscopic opportunities while I was there, and the Gods of the Underworld must have been with me, because I was there when the first 2 by 2 mosaic full-planet picture was downloaded from the probe, and assembled into exactly the required highish res partner to the iconic 'last-look' photo which preceded the final fly-by."

May's official biography states that he was working toward his PhD in astrophysics

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