Queen’s Brian May Is Rock’s Top Scientist

There’s a reason music was recorded on a gold disc and shot into space 34 years ago on the Voyager Spacecraft - Scientists believe that math is a commonly shared language across the universe and Earthly music just happens to be mathematical in nature. It’s true, if you’re great at creating music, chances are you’re pretty good at math, even if your high school Algebra teacher said you were a dunce (and you have the grades to prove it!).

Recently, a quirky science website io9.com focused it’s microscopes on the mysteries of rock music and exposed the Top 10 Rock Music Scientists. Most of these guys you’ve probably never heard of, but three jump out; Art Garfunkel (the more subdued half of Simon & Garfunkel), Tom Sholz of Boston and Brian May of Queen.

May topped the list because of his extensive academic sheepskins, including a Ph.D. in Astrophysics. The article, brilliantly put together by author Katharine Trendacosta, details some of May’s early brainiac stages-

"May studied physics and mathematics at Imperial College London and was in the process of getting his Ph.D. when Queen hit it big. Thirty years later, in 2007, he completed his dissertation. Yes, the man who wrote "We Will Rock You" also wrote A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud. You probably know the words to only one of these."

If you’ve ever used a ‘Rockman’ guitar amplifier or seen one used, you have io9’s Number 6 Rock Scientist Tom Sholz of Boston to thank. The guy invented it. Before Sholz was wailing the first power chords of ‘Smokin’ ‘ he was a numbers nerd at MIT – where he scored a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, which he parlayed into a job at Polaroid as senior product design engineer.

So when our future inter-stellar overlords appear with their invasion armada and that Voyager spacecraft in tow… (the idiots that sent it out also sent a map with our location pinpointed) let’s hope Brian May, Tom Sholz and Art Garfunkel are still alive, because we might need them to explain Justin Beiber and Lady Gaga to the aliens.

You can read the entire list of Rock Star Scientists by clicking here.