What If Money Were Designed to Celebrate Science Instead of Presidents?

I 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_...

I 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.

A 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

Why 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/

You 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)?

It is in Canada.

I 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.

Most people probably can't even name the presidents on the bills so it wouldn't make much difference who you put on there.

It would still be all about the Benjamin's, surely ?

I do like the inclusion of the denomination in braille.

Otherwise, they're too textural and not figurative enough.

It 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!

If 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/1329309475-2...

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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