Re: [Phys-l] relativity song

["David T. Marx" <marx@phy.ilstu.edu>]

This is from The Wiki article on Brian May...

As a physicist

May studied physics at Imperial College London, graduating with a B.Sc.
(Hons) degree and ARCS with Upper Second-Class Honours. He then proceeded
to study for a Ph.D, also at the Imperial College London departments of
Physics and Mathematics, and was part way through this Ph.D programme,
studying reflected light from interplanetary dust and the velocity of dust
in the plane of the Solar System, when Queen became successful. He
abandoned his physics doctorate but did co-author two scientific research
papers: MgI Emission in the Night-Sky Spectrum (1972) and An Investigation
of the Motion of Zodiacal Dust Particles (Part I) (1973), which were based
on May's observations at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. He is the
co-author of "Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe" with Patrick
Moore and Chris Lintott, which was published in October, 2006.[10] More
than 30 years after he started his research, in October 2007 he completed
his Ph.D. thesis, entitled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal
Dust Cloud, passed his viva voce, and performed the required corrections.
He officially graduated at the postgraduate awards ceremony held in the
Royal Albert Hall on the afternoon of Wednesday May 14, 2008.



> On VH1 Classic tonight, they are doing a story on the band Queen.
> Guitarist Brian May was discussing their 1975 song, '39, which he said was
> about a spaceship leaving Earth and traveling at nearly the speed of
> light. Mentioned some time dilation effects. Very interesting! More
> details can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'39
>
> I'm a huge music fan and also teach physics, and wanted to share this with
> the group.
>
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