New scientific appointments of £ 50

The Bank of England has published a list of scientists appointed to appear on the new £ 50 note.

Computer pioneers Alan Turing and Ada Lovelace, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell and astronomer Patrick Moore

The Bank received 174,112 applications, of which 114 000 met the criteria for eligibility.

To be on the list, the individual must be real, deceased and have contributed to the field of science in the UK.

The list, which includes more than 600 men and nearly 200 women, includes expert black holes Stephen Hawking, the discoverer of penicillin Alexander Fleming, father of modern epidemiology John Snow , the naturalist and zoo Gerald Durrell, the pioneer of fossils Mary Anning, British-Jamaican Mary Seacole and Margaret Thatcher, pioneer of nursing and science, before becoming prime minister.

The late Baroness Thatcher studied chemistry at the University of Oxford and graduated from the British Xylonite Plastics in 1947. Two years later she joined J. Lyons The biographer Hugo Young has writes: "& Co in Hammersmith, in West London, as a food research chemist who tested the quality of cake fillings and ice cream – invented ice cream soft." a product on which Lyons worked – but "there is no solid evidence that Thatcher directly contributed to his invention," according to an article from the Royal Society in a press review.

Shor tlist

William Hill's bookmakers have Stephen Hawking as their current favorite, with a 7/4 rating, followed by Nobel laureate chemist Dorothy Hodgkin, 4/1.

Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing and Alexander Fleming have a rating of 5: 1 and Rosalind Franklin, who has greatly contributed to the understanding of DNA, is at 6: 1.

Other names will be considered until the close of nominations on December 14th.

After that, the decision will be considered by the Bank's Advisory Committee on the Nature of Bank Notes.

Analysis:

Paul Rincon, Scientific Editor of the BBC News Web Site

The definition of eligibility for this list is for the moment quite broad, but some criteria stricter are likely to be applied once the names are examined by the Bank Committee.

Thus, while Margaret Thatcher makes a significant contribution to political life, it remains to be seen whether the committee will judge her as an equally important scientific personality.

His is one of the names that, according to some observers, do not fall under the stricter definition of the scientist. But a broad definition of eligibility could help promote some personalities neglected by the institution during its lifetime, such as Mary Anning, who, without formal qualifications, helped document important fossil discoveries in the south of the country. England.

Those who hope to find good candidates will find happiness in the list. However, some contributions highlight the contributions of ethnic minorities and immigrants to British science.

The short-listing committee will include space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pobad, author and genetic expert Emily Grossman, editor-in-chief of the British Journal for the History of Science, Simon Schaffer, and the theoretical and theoretical physicist Particle, Simon Singh

Nominations may include anyone having engaged in scientific activities in all fields, including astronomy, biology, biotechnology and chemistry. , engineering, mathematics, medical research, physics, technology or zoology.

Criminal Use

There are currently 330 million £ 50 bills outstanding, with a total value of £ 16.5 billion, the Bank said.

A year ago, it was doubtful that the £ 50 note would continue to exist.

Fear that the largest bill was widely used by criminals and rarely prompted ordinary government-run debate over the opportunity to abolish it.

Peter Sands, former managing director of Standard Chartered Bank, describes the £ 50 bill as the "currency of corrupt elites, crimes of all kinds and tax evasion".

Nevertheless, in October, the ministers announced that they were considering a new version of the note printed in the UK, which would be plastic, so more durable, safer and more difficult to forge.

Pioneers of Steam Engines James Watt and Matthew Boulton figure on the current issue £ 50 published in 2011.