Brian May

Sir Brian May CBE ARCS, PhD
May performing in 2022
Background information
Birth name	Brian Harold May
Born	(1947-07-19) 19 July 1947 (age 77) Hampton, London, England
Genres	Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician singer songwriter record producer author astrophysicist
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Hollywood Parlophone
Education	Hampton Grammar School
Alma mater	Imperial College London (BSc (Hons), PhD)
Spouse(s)	Christine Mullen ​ ​ (m. 1974; div. 1988)​ Anita Dobson ​ ​ (m. 2000)​
Children	3
Awards	Inductee, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2001) CBE (2005)
Scientific career
Fields	Astrophysics
Thesis	A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud (2008)
Doctoral advisor	Jim Ring[1][2] Ken Reay[1][2] Michael Rowan-Robinson[1][2]
Influences	Patrick Moore Chris Lintott
Website	brianmay.com

Sir Brian Harold May CBE (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, producer and astrophysicist, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. He uses a guitar he built himself with the help of his father. The guitar they built is called the "Red Special".

Apart from music, May earned his PhD in astrophysics in 2007 and is currently the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.^[3] Together with Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, he wrote a book called Bang! The Complete History of the Universe.^[4]

May was ranked 39th in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."^[5]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} May, Brian Harold (2008). A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud (PDF) (PhD thesis). Imperial College London. Bibcode:2008srvz.book.....M. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-77706-1. hdl:10044/1/1333. ISBN 9780387777054. OCLC 754716941. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.443586
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Brian May at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
3. ↑ "May installed as uni chancellor". BBC. 14 April 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
4. ↑ "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe". 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
5. ↑ "Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2009-05-25. Retrieved 2017-08-30.