May, who is now 60 years old, gave up his scientific career in 1974 in order to pursue his passion for music.
"I'm feeling rather joyful. I cannot tell you how much
of a weight off the mind it is," May said after he passed his oral exam.
Earlier this month, Brian May handed in its 48,000-word
study of interplanetary dust entitled Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust
Cloud at
"I feel comfortable about using the title because I worked for this, and I'm going to be proud to call myself Doctor from now on," May said for BBC News.
Brian May will be conferred officially with the title at a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in May next year.
Brian May already was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor
of Science (D.Sc.) in November 2002 by the
Also the guitarist recently published a book on astronomy with The Sky at Night presenter Sir Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott.