Who Makes the Rockin' World Go 'Round?

Brain May, a once promising young scientist, has just completed his PhD studies in astrophysics following an extended break performing in some band named Queen:



May's the one on the left, looking just plain awkward next to the pure distilled cool that is Freddie Mercury.

But seriously, May's return to academia was announced back in August on the blog Adventures in Ethics and Science (Yes, I know, it's another ScienceBlogger but, hell, they're good!). Commenter MartinC left the following money quote:

Mr May, the standard model posits that the Earth's spin is derived from a combination of its angular momentum and its distance from the Sun. You, on the other hand, state that its caused by 'Fat Bottomed Girls'. How do you explain this theoretical discrepancy?

For all the true Queen completists, here's a link to a paper co-authored by May and published in 1973.