Chemists Rosalind Franklin and Dorothy Hodgkin in the running for new face of £50 note

An image of a fifty pounds (£50) note

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Other favourites to adorn the new polymer note are Stephen Hawking, Ada Lovelace and Margaret Thatcher

DNA crystallographer Rosalind Franklin, and protein pioneer and Nobel laureate Dorothy Hodgkin are among the chemists nominated to be the face of the new polymer £50 note. Having received more than 174,000 nominations in four weeks, the Bank of England compiled a list of around 600 men and 200 women that meet the eligibility criteria. The person to adorn the new £50 note, the criteria state, should have contributed to science, should have shaped thought, innovation, leadership or values in the UK, and should have inspired, rather than divided, people.