
Stephen Hawking commemorated on new 50p coin - gadders
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-47527505
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hanoz
A 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.

~~~
nukeop
There are better choices for a historical scientist, such as Newton, Darwin,
Bacon or Dalton. Hawking was popular in the niche circles but it's safe to
assume that many people, even in the UK, would be unfamiliar with him. And
shoehorning an obscure woman scientist in there just because she's female is
an insult to the achievements all the women who excel in science and other
fields.

~~~
moate
What if they picked a prominent female scientist?

Also, there was a theatrically released biopic for Hawking and he was featured
on an episode of the Simpsons, I think he's pretty mainstream.

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sizzzzlerz
Did he ever find out more about that donut-shaped universe?

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pbhjpbhj
Anyone 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.

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ktpsns
The 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
I think you go too deep. For most folks, Hawking = black holes, and this is a
fine illustration on a very limited canvas. I personally consider it much
cooler rather than just some tiny portrait / picture of person in a
wheelchair.

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oneeyedpigeon
> 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?

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Angostura
Newton 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.

~~~
dmurray
Brunel, 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-...](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/)

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acheron
So 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.

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irb
Most of the coins made will circulate normally, although higher quality
commemorative versions will also be available to buy.

~~~
acheron
Yeah, the US Mint does that as well with the circulating coins.

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Insanity
Wow it is already a year ago.. time flies.

This is a nice way to commemorate him!

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nanna
If 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?

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eatbitseveryday
All coins available for purchase have been sold or reserved already.

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voltagex_
How 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.

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Symbiote
If 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.

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nanna
Questions 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?

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explodingcamera
Wow 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
:) )

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jcranberry
Stephen Hawking was definitely an incredible person, but were his scientific
contributions alone enough to merit his appearance on currency?

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adamc
I need to figure out where to order one of these.

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bump-ladel
[https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/events/stephen-
hawking/](https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/events/stephen-hawking/)

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agumonkey
microprint the cosmos on the coin !

