New £50 note will feature a British scientist...

[brogdale]

Never fear, Thatcher-haters. She will be nowhere near that shortlist.

Fatch on the £50 would end up being very costly; imagine the rate at which they'd have to be withdrawn & re-printed after 'customising'!

Artist's impression:

 

[Argonia]

Stephen Hawking is the bookies' favourite

 

[Celyn]

How about Mary Somerville,as the first scientist in a way?

 

[Raheem]

Fatch on the £50 would end up being very costly; imagine the rate at which they'd have to be withdrawn & re-printed after 'customising'!

Artist's impression:

View attachment 153653

Unfortunately, most of the people who would stoop so low as to do this are also people who never ever see a fifty pound note. Having her on a banknote would be tons of fun, just not this one please.

 

[paolo]

Ada Lovelace or Rosalind Franklin.

Ada Lovelace would be my vote. I’m a coder, she was the first.

Rosalind Franklin would be a good choice too, but - - her name isn’t as well known.

 

[DotCommunist]

Thatcher is trending at Twitter because of this story. Lots of people hoping she won't be on the fifty.

 

[brogdale]

Saw a comment yesterday on twitter that did actually make me me laugh out loud...

"Saw Thatcher trending and feared the worst"

 

[JimW]

Ken Dodd's lost sister

 

[skyscraper101]

Alan Turing to feature on new £50 note

Crispy called it.

 

[editor]

Turing is an excellent choice. What a fucking hero, treated criminally by his country.

Turing played a pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic, and in so doing helped win the war. Counterfactual history is difficult with respect to the effect Ultra intelligence had on the length of the war, but at the upper end it has been estimated that this work shortened the war in Europe by more than two years and saved over 14 million lives

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Good decision.

 

[A380]

Turing is an excellent choice. What a fucking hero, treated criminally by his country.

Agreed,

As long as they get a reference to Tommy Flowers in to. He actually built the machines, funding many of those parts which weren’t off the shelf telephone exchange components himself. But got very little recognition until much later because he was working class.

 

[editor]

Agreed,

As long as they get a reference to Tommy Flowers in to. He actually built the machines, funding many of those parts which weren’t off the shelf telephone exchange components himself. But got very little recognition until much later because he was working class.

Because most of Turing's work remained classified he got very little credit too in his lifetime.

 

[8ball]

Because most of Turing's work remained classified he got very little credit too in his lifetime.

Although tbf, can't see that his profile will be raised much by being on the £50 note - not seen one in decades.
Still, a good choice - would have liked to have seen Rosalind Franklin on the note, but this will do fine.

 

[hash tag]

A spokesman just said he was selected partly to illustrate how times and attitudes have changed; I don't agree. He should certainly have been selected for the brain that he was
and what he did for the country.

 

[8ball]

A spokesman just said he was selected partly to illustrate how times and attitudes have changed; I don't agree. He should certainly have been selected for the brain that he was
and what he did for the country.

Definitely, and a pang of shame would be more appropriate than smugness.

 

[hash tag]

Someone on R4 also had the nerve to apologise for some of AT's traits. His traits were his character and no one should apologise on anyone elses behalf yet alone a stranger on behalf of someone like AT.

 

[weltweit]

I don't think I have ever had a £50.00 note.

 

[hash tag]

Give us your bank details and Ill send one...rubs hands and waits.

 

[petee]

Agreed,

As long as they get a reference to Tommy Flowers in to. He actually built the machines, funding many of those parts which weren’t off the shelf telephone exchange components himself. But got very little recognition until much later because he was working class.

thanks, in fact I'd never heard of him, even though i had heard of the Colossus.

 

[ferrelhadley]

A spokesman just said he was selected partly to illustrate how times and attitudes have changed; I don't agree. He should certainly have been selected for the brain that he was
and what he did for the country.

Newton, Darwin and Faraday are the only scientists who have been on English money.
Banknotes of the pound sterling - Wikipedia
Turing was a decent mathematician who did some notable work but he is way behind some of the other major figures in UK science and maths. People like Maxwell, Kelvin, Dirac, Heavyside, Thomas Young, Charles Lyell, Bragg (either) all made arguably more substantial contributions. Maxwell is generally considered just behind the Galileo, Newton, Einstein level of all time greatest.
He made substantial contributions to early computing but the recognition would have to be as much for his treatment as the contribution.

 

[Raheem]

I don't think I have ever had a £50.00 note.

That's the thing. Most people have never seen one, but we all know they're out there. What could be more apt than a gay man who died in the 1950s?

 

[19force8]

Turing is an excellent choice. What a fucking hero, treated criminally by his country.

Yep.

If only they'd made that film about Ada Lovelace

 

[SpookyFrank]

I don't think I have ever had a £50.00 note.

Once I got one. Was working in a pub and someone paid with it. I was getting paid cash straight from the tills so I asked my manager if I could have the fifty in my pay packet that week. She said OK, and for the half an hour it took me to walk to the bank and pay it into my account, I owned a fifty pound note

 

[Wolveryeti]

These have been out for a while but havent seen one in the wild - anyone else find the same thing?

Feels like so many places have not accepted the old 50s that the reputation has stuck!

 

[A380]

These have been out for a while but havent seen one in the wild - anyone else find the same thing?

Feels like so many places have not accepted the old 50s that the reputation has stuck!

I got one when I sold a car. One of the new plastic ones. It’s the only one I’ve seen. Hopefully (?) the polymer will mean you can actually rely on them. Mins you I hardly use any cash anymore.

 

[equationgirl]

Newton, Darwin and Faraday are the only scientists who have been on English money.
Banknotes of the pound sterling - Wikipedia
Turing was a decent mathematician who did some notable work but he is way behind some of the other major figures in UK science and maths. People like Maxwell, Kelvin, Dirac, Heavyside, Thomas Young, Charles Lyell, Bragg (either) all made arguably more substantial contributions. Maxwell is generally considered just behind the Galileo, Newton, Einstein level of all time greatest.
He made substantial contributions to early computing but the recognition would have to be as much for his treatment as the contribution.

None of them saved millions of lives.

 

[platinumsage]

Turing is in vogue atm though.

FWIW I suggested Mary Anning, a great opportunity to have dinosaurs on the note and get kids interested in currency.

 

[NoXion]

None of them saved millions of lives.

I'd argue that Darwin definitely made a contribution towards saving lives, since evolution underpins all of biology, including medicine.

 

[WouldBe]

I'd argue that Darwin definitely made a contribution towards saving lives, since evolution underpins all of biology, including medicine.

Fleming if you want to count lives saved.