As for Sir Brian May, 75, he's a very intelligent and very nice bloke.
As well as being the guitarist of Queen, the fifth-biggest-selling music artists in the world after The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Elton John, he's also a qualified astrophysicist.
In his doctoral research, he investigated
radial velocity using
absorption spectroscopy and
doppler spectroscopy of
zodiacal light using a
Fabry–Pérot interferometer based at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. His research was initially supervised by Jim Ring, Ken Reay and in the latter stages by
Michael Rowan-Robinson. He graduated at the awards ceremony of Imperial College held in the Royal Albert Hall on 14 May 2008.
en.m.wikipedia.org
May is a regular guest on the long-running BBC astronomy show The Sky At Night and has written two astronomy books "
Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe" and
"The Cosmic Tourist."
On 17 November 2007, May was appointed Chancellor of
Liverpool John Moores University, and he was installed in 2008 having also been awarded an honorary fellowship from the university for his contribution to astronomy and services to the public understanding of science. He held the post until 2013. Asteroid
52665 Brianmay was named after him on 18 June 2008 on the suggestion of the then The Sky At Night presenter Patrick Moore (probably influenced by the asteroid's provisional designation of 1998
BM30).
en.m.wikipedia.org
May is also an animal rights activist and supports various causes in support of British wildlife and the British countryside and is also an avid collector of stereoscopes: Victorian 3-D photographs.
In the late Eighties and early Nineties, May suffered severe depression and contemplated suicide when his marriage was in trouble, he thought he was a bad father to his three children and Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury died. He is married to the actress Anita Dobson, famous for playing Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.