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Stephen Hawking commemorated on new 50p coin
- Insanity 8y agoWow it is already a year ago.. time flies. This is a nice way to commemorate him!
- oneeyedpigeon 8y ago> He joins an elite group of scientists to have appeared on coins, including Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. He's ... not really 'appearing' though, is he? His name is. Why no illustration of the great man himself?
- Moru 8y agoFrom the article: "Prof Hawking has also been suggested as the new face of the £50 banknote, which will feature a scientist. A decision will be made in the summer."
- Angostura 8y agoNewton didn’t appear either. While scientists portraits have appeared on notes, the mint avoids portraits on coins - and instead goes for a depiction of the work itself. Darwin is the only exception I can think of, probably because by depicting him and a chimp, you are actually depicting the work.
- bjpirt 8y agoI wonder if that's because heads would always win
- flurdy 8y agoPretty sure the lady on the other side disagrees...
- laumars 8y agoI suspect she's exactly the reason why you don't get portraits on the "tails" side.
- Symbiote 8y agoFor anyone curious, this is the Charles Darwin £2 coin: https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/two-pound-coin/2009-charles-darwin/ https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-...
- dmurray 8y agoBrunel, Jane Austen and Kitchener have all been on two-pound commemorative coins in recent years, as well as some unidentifiable athletes, so this is not a very strong rule. https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/events/jane-austen/ https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/events/jane-austen/ https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/two-pound-coin/2006-isambard-kingdom-brunel/ https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-... https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/two-pound-coin/2014-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-first-world-war/ https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-... https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/fifty-pence-coin/2014-Commonwealth-Games/ https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-...
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- pbhjpbhj 8y agoAnyone else find the illustration a bit lacking - it's like a 70s album cover (not a terrible thing) - but it doesn't scream blackhole at me. Writing his name seems a bit low rent too, the best coinage is a bit more subtle IMO.
- laumars 8y agoI completely see where you're coming from with regards to 70s album cover and the printing of his name. I still quite like the design though and I suspect it would look a lot more tasteful when seen on the coin itself rather than viewed online (which might have had the images contrast turned up to make the dips and peaks of the pressing more visible)
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoActually I just saw this, and I think I like it - https://m.imgur.com/TSEi2WW https://m.imgur.com/TSEi2WW. I didn't see the equation before, nor see a thumbnail: which makes it appear to have an actual hole.
- black-tea 8y agoAgreed. It looks like a Doctor Who logo or something. Not nice.
- ktpsns 8y agoThe illustration tries to visualize a (gravitational) potential by equitorial lines, and to cut where the event horizon is in Schwarzschild coordinates. Such an illustration is probably an honour to Karl Schwarzschild (the guy who first solved Einstein's general relativistic field equations) but not to Hawking, who got famous for making first predictions how quantum matter interacts with general relativistic spacetimes, i.e. black holes. It's only the equation which displays the definition of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy which is connected to Hawking. I'm not an expert in designing coins, but I feel this is not the best way to visualize Hawkings impact on science.
- saiya-jin 8y ago
- hanoz 8y agoA scientist is due to be chosen for the prestigious £50 note portrait this year, and Hawking would be a fine and hugely popular choice, but there's a lot of political pressure for it to be a woman, so I suspect this has conveniently removed him from the running.
- irb 8y agoI think it was probably too early for Hawking on the £50 anyway - it's more for historical figures. I can't be bothered to check but I think Churchill is the most recently alive person to ever be featured.
- petercooper 8y agoYou are indeed right, though being pedantic, QE2 is still alive ;-D Nan Shepard and the Queen Mother have also been included on short-lived commemorative notes in Scotland only.
- chrisseaton 8y agoThe Queen being on the other side is something different - she is always featured there and isn’t selected.
- lostlogin 8y ago> isn’t selected I chuckled.
- forinti 8y agoOTH, you'll see the coin much more often.
- bloak 8y agoTo put it mildly. For readers not in the UK: cashpoint machines do not give out £50 notes so if you want to get one you'll have to visit a bank and ask specially. Visiting a bank is rather difficult these days unless you are unemployed and live in a city centre and even then you might find it boarded up after the latest ram raid.
- agumonkey 8y agomicroprint the cosmos on the coin !
- adamc 8y agoI need to figure out where to order one of these.
- bump-ladel 8y agohttps://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/events/stephen-hawking/ https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/events/stephen-hawking/
- explodingcamera 8y agoWow the illustration looks really cool! Hopefully I can pick up a couple of these on my next trip to the UK (If the Brexit doesn't go through completely :) )
- acheron 8y agoSo is this a commemorative essentially non-circulating coin or do things like this get spent normally in the UK? I'm not familiar with Royal Mint commemoratives. In the US, the mint releases a lot of commemorative coins that ostensibly and legally have a face value, but in fact will never be used as money. Contrasting with that are the state and national park quarters, which mostly circulate normally.
- irb 8y agoMost of the coins made will circulate normally, although higher quality commemorative versions will also be available to buy.
- acheron 8y agoYeah, the US Mint does that as well with the circulating coins.
- DanBC 8y agoThese circulate and you find them in your change. Some people collect them by getting bulk change from their banks and searching through. Here's a youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrLpq9u90Ls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrLpq9u90Ls You get to see from this video that there are a load of these coins in the UK.
- acheron 8y agoOK, so somewhat similar to the State Quarter program in the US. Thanks for the comment. I haven't been to the UK for 20 years (sadly).. I do remember from back then the differing pound coins.
- Symbiote 8y agoMany people "collect" the commemorative 50p coins, possibly in the same way people collected the state quarters in the USA. There are one or two released every year[1], and the number varies. People seem to avoid spending them for a little while, show someone if it's one they've not seen before, and perhaps put them aside at home, but eventually spend them again. [1] https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/fifty-pence-coin https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-...
- b0bby_tabl3s 8y ago"Shave and a haircut..."
- eatbitseveryday 8y agoAll coins available for purchase have been sold or reserved already.
- jcranberry 8y agoStephen Hawking was definitely an incredible person, but were his scientific contributions alone enough to merit his appearance on currency?
- voltagex_ 8y agoHow do I get one of these outside of the UK? I'm also trying to find the Beatrix Potter and Shakespeare coins. Edit: https://www.royalmint.com https://www.royalmint.com but it's going to cost me... a lot.
- Symbiote 8y agoIf you just want the coin (rather than the coin in a presentation pack) it might be easiest to buy it from eBay (local or UK) or a coin collecting website.
- nanna 8y agoIf this were judged on scientific merit alone, and not the fact of being known to the public, Hawking would have never have made this. Does he compare to a James Clerk Maxwell? To a Francis Bacon?
- nanna 8y agoQuestions for HN archivists of the future: How long before Tim Berners-Lee gets on a British banknote or coin? Will this happen before or after Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, or Turing? And will Donald Davies ever get his recognition? And will physical money even still exist by this point?