New scientific appointments of £ 50

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bank of England

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

Pioneers Alan Turing and Ada Lovelace, phone inventor Alexander Graham Bell and astronomer Patrick Moore are on the list.

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

To be on the list, the person 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 black hole expert Stephen Hawking, discoverer of penicillin Alexander Fleming, father of modern epidemiology John Snow, naturalist and Gerald Durrell, pioneer of fossils Mary Anning, British and Jamaican businesswoman Mary Seacole and Margaret Thatcher, a pioneer of nursing before becoming British Prime Minister.

Shortlist

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

Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, Alexander Fleming and electromagnetic pioneer Michael Faraday have a rating of 5/1 and Rosalind Franklin, who has largely contributed to the understanding of DNA, is at 6/1.

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

The decision will then be reviewed by the Bank's Advisory Committee on the Nature of Bank Notes.

The shortlisting committee will consist of space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, author and genetic expert Emily Grossman, editor of the British Journal for History of Science Simon Schaffer and theoretical physicist and Simon particles Singh.

Nominations may include anyone who has worked in any scientific field, including astronomy, biology, biotechnology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medical research, physics, technology or zoology.

Criminal use

There are currently 330 million GBP outstanding, with a total value of GBP 16.5 billion, the bank said.

A year ago, it was doubted that the £ 50 bill would continue to exist.

Fears that the most important note was widely used by criminals and rarely for ordinary shopping sparked a government discussion about the need to abolish it.

Peter Sands, former managing director of Standard Chartered Bank, described 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 planning a new version of the note printed in the UK, which would be plastic, so more durable, safer and more difficult to forge.

The pioneers of steam engines, James Watt and Matthew Boulton, feature on the current £ 50 price published in 2011.