The Pink Floyd line “ we do n’t need no education ” might take hold reliable for some musician , but for others that could n’t be further from the truth . The player highlight below did n’t just swing by a university to pick up an honorary diploma only after receive musical success . Nope , they put in the long hour to earn doctorial point and then picked up jobs with getup such as NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense . Because as cool as deliver “ stone star topology ” on your Wikipedia varlet is , having “ rocket scientist ” follow it is just that much ice chest .
1. BRIAN MAY
British guitar player Brian May could have easily called it a day when Queen ’s recording calling come to an end keep an eye on the demise of Freddie Mercury in 1991 . While May continues to dally live with his remaining bandmates , he has also embraced his interest in astrophysics .
May had empty his doctoral studies at the Imperial College of London in the mid-1970s to be the rock candy star sprightliness , but returned to completehis PhDin 2007 . Since then , May has co - authored two books on the macrocosm , and in 2015collaborated with NASAas the New Horizons space probe return by Pluto . If that were n’t telling enough , May can lay claim to pile up the first high - quality stereo image of the dwarf planet . Not too shabby for a guy who had already made his German mark with domain rock raw material like “ We Will Rock You ” and “ Stone Cold Crazy . ”
2. MILO AUKERMAN
strong-armer rock ‘n’ roll musician the Descendents were n’t jest around when they named their first album : 1982’sMilo Goes To College . Frontman Milo Aukerman put all those punk rock lyrics about binging on coffee tree to serious habit , realize a doctor’s degree in biological science from UC San Diego and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin - Madison .
For many geezerhood , Aukerman split his time , contribute the Descendents while puzzle out as an adjunct professor at the University of Delaware andplant researcherwith chemical caller DuPont . The two chosen theatre of operations of study , thug rock and biochemistry , might not seem to have much in plebeian , but Aukerman found many similarity . In 2011 , hetoldThe Scientistthat in both landing field , he was “ always looking for discoveries that challenge current mentation . ” devotee should n’t carry Aukerman to get too geeky with his words though : “ I will belike never ever write a birdsong about DNA , ” he said . In a 2016 consultation withSpin , Aukerman shared that he ’s now dedicating his full - clock time life sentence to music . “ [ scientific discipline has ] amaze less and less interesting to me , ” hesaid . “ Also , make in a corporation has become a misery of sort . As I was discovering this and realizing maybe I should just do music full - prison term , lo and behold , [ my job ] laid me off anyway . ”
3. DEXTER HOLLAND
Orange County , California tinder rockers The materialisation have been on a regular basis tour and putting out albums since the mid-1980s . What buff might be surprised to learn though is that in between write songs like “ Pretty Fly ( For a White Guy ) , ” the band ’s lyricist and frontman Dexter Holland was work on HIV enquiry .
In May 2017 , Holland earned his Ph.D. in molecular biological science from the University of Southern California , completing a 175 - page dissertation titledDiscovery of Mature MicroRNA Sequences within the Protein - Coding Regions of Global HIV-1 Genomes : forecasting of Novel Mechanisms for Viral Infection and Pathogenicity . Lengthy scientific jargon dissertation claim away , HollandtoldRolling Stonehis focus was on the molecular dynamics of the HIV computer virus . " I am concerned in virology and want to contribute in some small way to the noesis which has been teach about HIV and AIDS , ” Holland enjoin .
4. JEFF “SKUNK” BAXTER
People fall into side lance like dog - walk or crafting all the time . find yourself unexpectedly taking on a second job as a consultant in missile defense systems , on the other hand , is a petty more out of the norm . Jeff “ Skunk ” Baxter spent much of the seventies and ' 80s play guitar with human action like the Doobie Brothers , Steely Dan , and Elton John . Since the mid-1990s though , Baxter has had asecond jobworking with the Congressional Advisory Board on Missile Defense and consulting for General Atomics . And he landed those gig almost totally out of diaphanous fortune .
Baxter credit his born curiosity to seem at technologies and how they can be better upon as his jumping-off point into the landing field of projectile defense . The guitarist would on a regular basis pick the mastermind of his next door neighbor , a retired engineer who had worked on the Pentagon’sSidewindermissile computer programme . Baxter drop the next several years doing his own research and learning everything he could about the ironware develop for missile use . He would eventually pass on his own proposal on how to improve the ship - based Aegis missile system to California Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher and the balance is history .
5. GREG GRAFFIN
For more than three decades , Bad Religion has held a blot as one of the most respected punk bands in the genre , with vocalizer Greg Graffin command the stagecoach . Graffin ’s politically - charged lyric have help the band maintain a healthy following , but euphony is n’t Graffin ’s only passion .
Since 2008 , Graffin has part his time between playing with Bad Religion and teaching evolutionary biology at several university . Graffinearneda Ph.D. in zoology from Cornell University and has yield to his alma mater to instruct courses on the national . The punk rock ‘n’ roll musician has co - authored three books on the topic of phylogeny and faith andtaughtlife scientific discipline track at the University of California Los Angeles . Like other musicians who dabble in the sciences , Graffin has found analog in the two . “ If I ’m behind a lectern or onstage , I ’m just attempt to provoke people to use and expand their mind a short , ” GraffintoldtheSan Diego Tribune .
6. PHILIP TAYLOR KRAMER
The life of Philip Taylor Kramer was one filled with both exceptional success and horrific calamity . Kramer first made a name for himself in the seventies playacting bass with psychedelic careen band Iron Butterfly . He run on to play with other groups into the early 1980s , but would later leave music and find success in the subject area of reckoner engineering .
The musician ’s Fatherhood was a professor of electrical technology and after a career in medicine , Kramerco - foundeda company that produced significant work in missile direction scheme as well as computerized facial reconstructive memory simulation . Tragically , Kramer ’s life was enigmatically cut poor in 1995 when he disappear after hold a frantic call to his wife from the Los Angeles International Airport and telling her to meet him at a hotel .
The instrumentalist / data processor applied scientist then called the police and said he was going to kill himself before abruptly fall up . He was n’t heard from again until his burn - out van was discovered in the bottom of a ravine four eld afterward . The destruction wasruled aprobable suicide , though some of Kramer ’s closest family line and ally suspect yucky play .
7. JOHN PERRY BARLOW
Deadheads will probably well bang the name John Perry Barlow from the lining note of Grateful idle albums as aco - writeron a number of classic like “ Mexicali Blues ” and “ Cassidy . ” Further exploration would reveal that there are many sides to John Perry Barlow besides thankful Dead lyricist . Barlow can be credit as a pioneer in the digital rotation , leading the way to preserve and protect internet freedoms as a co - founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1990 .
These twenty-four hours Barlow has shifted his focus to a new calling — pool scum . More specifically : algae . He is the vice president ofAlgae Systems , a companionship working to get microalgae as a biofuel and change over sewerage into a fertiliser .
8. TOM SCHOLZ
Rock band Boston had one of the good - trade first appearance album in music history with their 1976 self - titled debut selling17 millioncopies . Almost all of that success can be attributed to guitarist Tom Scholz ’s background as a mechanical engineer .
Scholz had meet both his unmarried man ’s ( 1969 ) and master ’s degrees ( 1970 ) in mechanically skillful engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , but he had pipe dream of rock n ’ roll stardom . To devote the bills , Scholz took a job as a senior ware design engineer at Polaroid . The young guitar player and engineer spend his paychecks and nights building his own basementrecording studioand create nearly every sound , except for the vocal and drums , of what would be Boston ’s debut album . The DIY cognitive operation was unheard of at the time and Epic , the ring ’s record caller , necessitate that the demos be redone in a proper studio apartment . Scholz turn down to shift with nearly all of his original recordings eventually making it onto the extremely - successful record album .
