UK Edition
The new £50 note is likely to feature a female scientist after eminent academics, Nobel laureates and ministers said it was time for a British women in the profession to be recognised.
Yesterday Bank of England governor Mark Carney invited nominations for the new face of the note, with the stipulation that candidates must be no longer living and from fields such as medical research, biology and astronomy.
Sam Gyimah, the Science Minister, said he had written to Mr Carney to recommend the mathematician and computer pioneer Ada Lovelace, chemist Rosalind Franklin and Britain’s only female Nobel prize winner Dorothy Hodgkin.
Royal Society president and Nobel prize winner Venki Ramakrishnan also said he would choose ‘remarkable individual’ Prof Hodgkin, who died in 1994.
“We can thank Dorothy for revealing the three-dimensional structures of many biologically important molecules such as penicillin, insulin and vitamin B12, as well as inspiring several generations of leading crystallographers," said Dr Ramakrishnan.
“The new £50 note is a great time to recognise women who have made distinguished contributions to British science.”
Prof Hodgkin won the coveted prize for advancing the technique of X-ray crystallography, which is used to determine molecules' 3D structures.
Professor Lord Krebs, the English biologist also nominated Hodgkin, reasoning, “Almost everyone knows someone or is themselves a diabetic so would recognise that insulin is important.”
The Astronomer Royal Lord Sir Martin Rees backed Prof Hodgkin and Ada Lovelace, while The British Science Association (BSA) picked Rosalind Franklin or Mary Anning, the English fossil collector whose finds on the Jurassic Coast helped rewrite the history of life on Earth.
Katherine Mathieson, Chief Executive of the BSA said: “They were both under-recognised in their lifetime and now we could set the record straight and recognise the huge achievements they made.”
A petition to nominate Margaret Thatcher, who began her career as a chemist, has already gained 18,000 votes.
The Royal Academy of Engineering put forward Lady Rachel MacRobert, a geologist and one of the first women to be admitted to the Geological Society of London, although the suggestion may be excluded as she was born in the US.
Likewise the Royal Statistical Society nominated Florence Nightingale, but she has already appeared on the £10 note and so is unlikely to be considered.
Among the men nominated by the scientific community are Professor Stephen Hawking and Nobel prize winner Sir Peter Medawar, who uncovered why the body rejects foreign tissue opening the door to organ transplants.
The public has six weeks to register their nominations on the Bank's website, with Mr Carney making the selection which will be announced next summer.
At the launch at London’s Science Museum Mr Carney said he remained ‘open-minded’ about what his choice will be, and celebrated the successes of British scientists from the steam engine to the telegraph for powering industrial revolutions.
“In medicine and biology, the discoveries of penicillin, X-rays and the double helix by British scientists afforded people healthier and longer lives," he added”
The chosen scientist will replace steam engine pioneers Matthew Boulton and James Watt, and feature on the other side of the note to the Queen. The monarch can be the only living person on bank notes.
Although most people rarely come across a £50 note, the Bank of England said there around 330 million in circulation.
The £50 in circulation now was introduced in 2011, but its continued existence was called into question with concerns over money laundering and tax evasion. But the new issue will feature fresh security features.
Among those on the advisory committee creating a shortlist for the governor are scientists Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Dr Emily Grossman, Professor Simon Schaffer and Dr Simon Singh.