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What If Money Were Designed to Celebrate Science Instead of Presidents?
- ggchappell 12y agoI would be in favor of such a redesign, but the nitpicker in me wants to point out that U.S. bills don't all feature presidents. Alexander Hamilton, on the $10 bill, was never president. Bills valued at more than $100 have not been made for some time[1], but the most recent $10,000 bill featured Salmon P. Chase, who was also never president. [1] Not since 1945, saith Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_...
- JohnsonRob 12y agoWe don't have politicians on most of our bank notes here in Australia either - we mostly have notable historic people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Australian_dollar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Australian_do...
- xrange 12y agoAs long as we're nitpicking, none of: Benjamin Franklin, Sacajawea, or Susan B. Anthony were president.
- ggchappell 12y agoYes, I forgot Franklin. The other two have only appeared on coins, no?
- xrange 12y agoYes, coins only. The title of the article mentions "money".
- glibgil 12y agoAnd a peach was never president.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- devindotcom 12y agoIt would feel strange to me - American dollars are a uniquely American thing, created and backed by the American government. Seems right to celebrate the history of the government on there, just as it would seem right to see the Queen on some British coin, or Gandhi on an Indian bill. Scientific advances don't seem like the kind of thing that should be printed on money. Do statues, or dedications!
- lotsofmangos 12y agoWithout your impressive history of scientific and technical advances, the history of your government would be a hell of a lot shorter.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- lifeisstillgood 12y agoIt would still be all about the Benjamin's, surely ?
- SoCalNS_902 12y agoIt is in Canada.
- burke 12y agoWell, it's both really; one side is a cultural or scientific icon, and the other is the Queen or a prime minister. I am pretty proud of our $5 though: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8542/8694157272_8990e8bcca_z.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8542/8694157272_8990e8bcca_z.j...
- adambard 12y agoAny Canadian will tell you that the space shuttle is just the thing they use to get the arm into space.
- gilgoomesh 12y agoAustralia used to have mostly scientists, botanists and astronomers on our bills prior to 1990: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Australian_dollar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_Australian_dol... Now we have mostly politicians, authors and entertainers :-(
- lotsofmangos 12y agoIf you find that your money is already designed to celebrate science, you are probably in the UK. We've had loads of scientists and engineers on banknotes, including Charles Darwin, Issac Newton, Matthew Boulton, James Watt, Michael Faraday, Alexander Graham Bell, Adam Smith, George Stephenson, Florence Nightingale and Christopher Wren. Also the coins regularly have geeky stuff on them. Like the current £2 coin which features gears and circuitry with Newtons 'shoulders of giants' comment written around the edge. - https://www.thelondoncoincompany.com/coinimages/1329309475-2011_Shoulders_of_Giants_BU_Two_Pound_Coin_R.jpg https://www.thelondoncoincompany.com/coinimages/1329309475-2... --- edit - This Northern Irish £5 featuring the space shuttle is awesome and is probably the coolest Stirling note ever. It is also in portrait like the designs suggested in the article and could well be the inspiration for them. http://www.banknotes.com/IEN203.JPG http://www.banknotes.com/IEN203.JPG
- blibble 12y agothe new £50 note is pretty geeky: http://www.britishnotes.co.uk/news_and_info/news/aa01_salmon_50__.jpg http://www.britishnotes.co.uk/news_and_info/news/aa01_salmon... "I sell here, Sir, what the world desires to have: POWER"
- midhir 12y agoThat was an awesome fiver! It was also made of plastic. I remember it well. It was recalled after the Northern Bank robbery and discontinued. The biggest bank robbery in UK and Irish history IIRC. Crazy times. The bank is now owned by Danske, so we use Danish fivers now :p Interestingly Belfast just agreed to name a street after John Bell. It's significant because there's a rule here about not naming streets after people. They got around it for Bell by naming it Bell's Theorem Crescent. Pretty sure Lord Kelvin made it onto a Scottish note too. Me, I'm all about the Punt with the stag on it.[1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_pound_%28Irish_coin%29#mediaviewer/File:Irish_pound_(reverse).png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_pound_%28Irish_coin%29#medi...
- lotsofmangos 12y agoIs doubly cool cos the stag is surfing.
- worldsayshi 12y agoI imagined a much more abstract take of the title. What if 'money' was designed so that it gravitated towards achievers of scientific accomplishments rather than towards weilders of power.
- Chinjut 12y agoNot, I think, that politicians are the richest people in modern society. But, my brain went for a similar interpretation at first as well: what if economic structures were somehow redesigned so that money gravitated towards different activities than currently, changing the world's balance of wealth and thus influence? Would've been a fun article, if it existed...
- mikeyouse 12y agoA former classmate of mine keeps a personal website with a section that has a very thorough list of scientists and mathematicians who appear on various currencies with full-res scans of most of his collection: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jbourj/money.htm http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jbourj/money.htm
- Osmium 12y agoThe link's very cool, but I think it highlights the important distinction between notes that celebrate science and notes that celebrate specific scientists. Both may be worthwhile doing, but they're different things.
- onewaystreet 12y agoMost people probably can't even name the presidents on the bills so it wouldn't make much difference who you put on there.
- spectre 12y agoWhy just celebrate Science? In New Zealand our banknotes feature people famous for all kinds of achievements: $5 - Sir Edmund Hillary (Climber), $10 - Kate Sheppard (Woman's Suffrage), $50 - Sir Āpirana Ngata (Māori Culture), $100 - Lord Ernest Rutherford (Nuclear Physics). http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/notes_and_coins/notes/ http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/notes_and_coins/notes/
- informatimago 12y agoYou mean, like Pasteur (5 francs, 1966), Berlioz (10 francs, 1972), Travail et Science (20 francs, 1939), Le Verrier (50 francs, 1945), Saint-Exupéry (50 francs, 1992), Descartes (100 francs, 1942), Gustave Eiffel (200 francs, 1995), Pascal (500 francs, 1968), Pierre et Marie Curie (500 francs, 1994)?
- ISL 12y agoAnd the beautiful 10-Dmark, featuring Gauss and some of his work? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:10_DM_Serie4_Vorderseite.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:10_DM_Serie4_Vorderseite.j... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:10_DM_Serie4_Rueckseite.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:10_DM_Serie4_Rueckseite.jp... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Mark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Mark
- cratermoon 12y agoI don't really care who is on the money, let's just give more of it to the scientists instead of the Presidents and other politicians.
- jonah 12y agoI do like the inclusion of the denomination in braille. Otherwise, they're too textural and not figurative enough.