Brian May's PhD thesis sat in the loft of his Surrey home for 33 years. In 2006 — he put everything in his life on hold for a full year, went back to Imperial College, and finished it. His professor said he had a mountain to climb reviewing 30 years of scientific work. Brian May climbed it anyway. The most extraordinary act of academic commitment in rock history.
In 1970 — Brian May began a PhD in astrophysics at Imperial College London.
He supplemented his grant with income from part-time teaching and playing in bands with Roger Taylor. Soon they were joined by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. Queen was formed.
For four years — Brian tried to do both.
His doctoral thesis on interplanetary dust was taking shape. But the grant was running out. And music was beginning to take over his life.
In 1974 — before leaving — he co-authored two research papers based on his work at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, Spain.
Then he made a decision.
He abandoned his thesis — or more exactly, as he put it himself — he put it on the back burner. And the rest is history.
The 48,000-word thesis — Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud — was stored in the loft of his home in Surrey.
It stayed there for 33 years.
Then in 2006 — something changed.
Brian told Time magazine — "Suddenly my subject became very in-demand again. I started talking about astronomy again to people who said — 'Why don't you still do it?' I put everything — and I mean everything — on hold for a year. And they put me in a little office in Imperial College and I got down to it."
His professor was honest about what awaited him.
Professor Rowan-Robinson said — "Brian brought along print outs of what he had written in 1974. It was then that I realised Brian was going to have a mountain to climb — reviewing 30 years of work."
Brian May climbed it.
He re-registered for his PhD in 2006. Less than a year later — he submitted it successfully.
In 2007 — Brian Harold May was awarded his PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London.
Thirty-three years after he first abandoned it.
For a band called Queen.
He sacrificed his academic career to play rock and roll.
Then sacrificed a year of his rock career to finish what he had started.
Some people simply cannot leave things undone.
Happy Birthday, Bill Bates!
#DallasCowboys Special Teams Ace and Safety
Undrafted out of #Tennessee, Bates quickly developed into one of the NFL's premier special teams players.
An NFL All-Rookie selection in 1983, he followed up in '84 by becoming the first "non-returner/kicker" special teams player ever selected to an NFC Pro Bowl squad.
A two-time NFL Alumni "Special Teams Player of the Year" and a three-time Super Bowl champion as one of Jimmy Johnson's few holdovers from the Tom Landry Era #Cowboys
"Sandy Koufax was the ultimate team guy, and I think the guys on his team knew it.
By the seventh game of the World Series in 1965, he couldn’t throw a curve anymore.
Koufax came out of the bullpen to toss his third game in eight days, and catcher John Roseboro went to the mound to find out why Koufax wasn’t throwing his curve.
And for the first time Koufax admitted to his catcher, the guy who was his favorite receiver:
"My arm’s sore.
I just can’t do it."
And Johnny Roseboro looked at him and said:
"What are we going to do?"
Koufax replied:
“F*** it!
We’ll blow them away."
And that’s what he did.
He went out there and pitched a shutout, 2-0, with 10 Ks, on two days’ rest.
With one pitch."
"A Lefty's Legacy."
Jane Leavy
Happy 75th Birthday to long-time voice of the Texas Rangers, Eric Nadel!
Nadel has been with the Rangers since 1979, having stints as both radio & TV play-by-play announcer