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was reading the bbc's news this morning and came across an article revealing that queen guitarist brian may is about to hand in and defend his phd thesis in astronomy this month, about 35 years late.

the varied talents of folks just never cease to amaze me.

Cool, I went back to college after 18 years to complete a bachelors in bizness. In no way compares to a PHD in astronomy. Wow, that's major cool.

I saw a 92 year old getting her Medical degree this week. She can diagnose anyone who walks by in the nursing home.... More power to anyone wanting higher ed.....

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I read he was seriously involved in astrology in one of his interviews, I didn't know they gave degrees in it though!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Ya but I think astronomy and astrology are a couple of diffent things! Good for Brian!! I still LOVE the sound of the guitar that he and his dad built, so a luthier to boot...sort of!. Those red guitars are being commercially produced now but probably don't sound like his (or maybe they do!).

Shane

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Canada

Brian has often appeared on our main Astronomy television programme, The Sky at Night, he is well known here for his interest in Astro-physics. He's also a keen eclipse chaser, but of course he can afford to travel to wherever it's happening. Mind you, PhDs are two a penny nowadays, its a DSc that's harder to get.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

My friend Dwight D'Eon (who's in the top 7 on Canadian Idol right now...) gets to meet Brian May this week. They're doing a Queen theme week. I think he named that guitar the Red Special.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

May's guitar used to be a cherry fireplace facade right?

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

[QUOTE=Hesh1956]Yeah now he's eminently qualified to count the rings around Uranus........

Sorry...... can you imagine what it's like to live with me...... [/QUOTE]

I bet it's always a full moon at your house Hesh.

Didn't want to steal this thread, but if interested in Astronomy and Astrophotography, go to my post in Off Topic Discussions.  Those of you who have these interests will like the links.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

[QUOTE=fmorelli] [QUOTE=Colin S]Mind you, PhDs are two a penny nowadays, its a DSc that's harder to get.
Colin[/QUOTE]

You tried to get a PhD in any field of physics, recently? "Two a penny" ... man ... I'll have to pass that along to my father, who has a PhD in Physics. On second thought, that would be untoward of me.

Filippo[/QUOTE]


I believe Colin has a PhD in a field of physics.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Colin, in the US a PhD and DSc are equivalent.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

[QUOTE=Don A] Colin, in the US a PhD and DSc are equivalent. [/QUOTE]

They aren't in the UK, they are secondary Doctorates. I had my first Doctorate (a DPhil as it was a Cambridge doctorate) 8 years before being awarded my DSc also from Cambridge University. The applicant for the DSc has to meet very stringent conditions and has to be deemed to have made major advance in their field of science, Dll is the arts equivalent. Many are turned down as it is an award from your peers in your field of study, and shows that you have 'made it'. They normally have to be appointed to a position, at least a University Fellowship before they can apply, many are already Professors. It's probably the only academic qualification that people usually use after their name, that and FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society).

I usually have a dozen or so PhD students that I supervise, of those if they are lucky maybe one will eventually be awarded a DSc in their lifetime. In fact I was on the panel that awarded a DSc to one of my past students last month, he had already been turned down a couple of years previously.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Don't assume that Brian May will actually be awarded his PhD. He will have to satisfy the panel that the work he started all those years ago is still an advancement and is original work at the time of submission. The chances are his supervisor will have made sure that the work is still relevant, though it may be possible that others in the intervening years may have made his work outdated, in which case he'll be refused.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

What ever makes you happy I guess. Achievement is a good thing and no one should ever be frowned upon for achieving their goals, how ever high or "low" they may seem to other people.

You know what the cool thing about Brian May is? He may just be a PhD (2 a penny according to Colin) but not to many PhD's can compare to the flip side of Brian May's album. Rock-n-Roll god is not all that common among PhD's I'm sure.

Oh and yes, Brian made Red Special from a friends to be discarded fire place mantel.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Bryan Holland from The Offspring has a PhD in microbiology, but I wouldn't put him in the rock god category.

Greg Graffin, who many would consider a punk rock god, has a PhD in evolutionary biology.

That's all I can think of, but it looks like they're slightly more common in the punk world.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Ranger Doug of "Riders in the Sky" has a PhD. I think it is in physics, too. Actually all three of the main guys hold advanced degrees. Woody Paul, their fiddler, may be a PhD, but I don't remember if it's in forestry or biology.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Frankly, though, Oxbridge (and British academia in general) is a little up its own y'know what when it comes to titles, grades, etc. Such as the idiocy of receiving an MA in a science subject upon graduation, and having it magically morph into an MSc at some later point in time. It has more to do with tradition than any form of merit that makes sense, far as I can tell...

I'm sorry if some of you don't like it, but to many it does now seem that PhDs are being handed out nowadays free with a packet of cornflakes. Deans and senates are encouraging departments to appoint as many research post-grads as possible. Why? it's money of course, that great god. With post-grad students comes lots of lovely grant money, and cash strapped universities want as much of it as possible.

The currency has been severely devalued in recent years.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

[QUOTE=ToddStock] The shocker was Ozzie Osborne's PhD in Speech Therapy and Communications...[/QUOTE]

That's funny Todd

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I don't know that it's specifically PhDs, Colin. A much larger proportion of the population than ever before is going to university, and so it's essentially a given there will be more PhDs than before.

Standards have become more lax at every level of education, from primary/secondary education on up. The refusal to hurt anyone's feelings by giving poor or failing grades means that most grade 12 students in my country (Canada) can't get a passing grade on a 1930's grade 6 math test. And we ranked pretty highly on the last international studies of education I read. Sad.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

[QUOTE=Colin S]
.......I had my first Doctorate (a DPhil as it was a Cambridge doctorate) 8 years before being awarded my DSc also from Cambridge University. The applicant for the DSc has to meet very stringent conditions and has to be deemed to have made major advance in their field of science.......
[/QUOTE]

I've dabbled in some geo stuff. What's your area of research? Perhaps I've come across your work.

Just for the record, Astronomy is real science, and Astrology is tabloid magazine fare with no basis in science. Two different things.

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com