The New £50 note

[I'm With Stupid]

I'm a bit naïve on these things, but has Hawking ever actually contributed anything with a real world application? Beyond theories of space and the like, actual progress? Does knowing shit about back holes or the big bang actually do owt? I presume it probably has led to advances in fields, I just can't think of anything off the top of my head

Here's an article that mentions one of his main theories and why it never won him a nobel prize.

I'll be honest, I'm like you in that I don't really know enough about science to judge someone's contributions to the field. But obviously part of his appeal for things like this isn't just his contribution to science, it's that he's done it in spite of his disabilities. And perhaps that's reason enough for him to go on a banknote (in the same way that people suggest Turing not just for his contribution to the war effort, but the circumstances surrounding them). I think most people's judgement of him as a great scientist are largely based on his popular science books and media profile. Which doesn't mean they're wrong, but I'm not really in a position to judge.

 

[urban genie]

I would vote for James Prescot Joule so many great scientists from the UK are overlooked considering their achievents

And he was a local lad

 

[mat]

They are looking for SCIENTISTS to feature on the new note. A shortlist has been drawn up and I think Turing is a good shout as is Hawking but I cannot overlook Lovelace. My concern is what the fuck is Thatcher doing on the shortlist ???? Its about contributions to science and on that basis she has no basis to be on the shortlist at all !!


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46343965

Have a feeling the PM had a word about putting such a divisive figure on the note.

 

[bluesteel]

We should bring out a £100 pound note and put the centurians on the back and Guardiola on the front :o

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

They are looking for SCIENTISTS to feature on the new note. A shortlist has been drawn up and I think Turing is a good shout as is Hawking but I cannot overlook Lovelace. My concern is what the fuck is Thatcher doing on the shortlist ???? Its about contributions to science and on that basis she has no basis to be on the shortlist at all !!


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46343965

Didn't she light a bunsen burner once whilst slaving away at Somerville?

 

[bluethrunthru]

Didn't she light a bunsen burner once whilst slaving away at Somerville?

ha ha ha - reminds me of the scene in the Producers - Kenneth Mars as the plays German author - " Churchill............Churchill.....calls himself a painter? Hitler - now there was a painter, a whole apartment in one day - two coats !!"

 

[The perfect fumble]

Inexplicably overlooked...

 

[Ifwecouldjust.......]

Surely it's got to be Turing...... we're discussing the matter on devices he helped to invent.

 

[crazyg]

I'm a bit naïve on these things, but has Hawking ever actually contributed anything with a real world application? Beyond theories of space and the like, actual progress? Does knowing shit about back holes or the big bang actually do owt? I presume it probably has led to advances in fields, I just can't think of anything off the top of my head

Is that a euphemism for something you want to say? Biology is a science, after all.

 

[East Level 2]

I would vote for John Prescot Joule so many great scientists from the UK are overlooked considering their achievents
And he was a local lad

His brother James Prescot Joule had a unit of energy named after him. Clever family!!