ABD no more

No, not me. Brian May, guitarist for Queen, is completing his doctorate in astrophysics.

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.

May was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when Queen, which included Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, was formed in 1970. He dropped his doctorate as the glam rock band became successful.

Queen were one of Britain's biggest music groups in the 1970s, with hits including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Will Rock You."

After Mercury's death in 1991, May recorded several solo albums, including 1998's "Another World." But his interest in astronomy continued, and he co-wrote "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe," which was published last year.

He was due to finish carrying out astronomical observations at an observatory on the island of Spain's Canary Islands, on Tuesday, the observatory said.

May told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he had always wanted to complete his degree.

"It was unfinished business," he said. "I didn't want an honorary Ph.D. I wanted the real thing that I worked for."

My sister asked me a few weeks ago, "Do you ever miss studying philosophy, and consider going back to finish your Ph.D.?"

"Those are two different questions," I replied. "The answer to the first question is yes, the answer to the second is hell, no!" Of course, if I'm ever a famous rock star, I might change my mind.

(Via Thoreau at Unqualified Offerings.)