[buggrock (OP)]

Dear friends,

I wanted to let you know about a new petition I created on We the People,
a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your
name to mine? If this petition gets 100,000 signatures by January 23, 2015,
the White House will review it and respond!

We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama
Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets
enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.

You can view and sign the petition here:

newbielink:http://wh.gov/iYBOj [nonactive]
Here's some more information about this petition:

*Our Money Should Be Designed to Celebrate Science Instead of
Presidents.*

Our Money Should Be Designed to Celebrate Science Instead of Presidents.
Let's celebrate progress instead of dead politicians. Let's set our
sights to the future instead of the past.

[alancalverd]

Partial sympathy from the UK. History, back to the time of the Romans, suggests that a national currency is validated by having the head of state on one side, but our banknotes have featured Isaac Newton, George Stephenson, Michael Faraday, Boulton & Watt, Florence Nightingale, and currently Charles Darwin, along with Shakespeare and various other notables from the arts and economics, on the reverse side. Definitely a good idea.

Before worrying about the design, however, I think you guys ought to do something about the size and color of your notes. How do blind people manage?

[Bill S]

The following scientific/technological landmarks were celebrated on £2 coins:

2001  100th Anniversary of Marconi's 1st Wireless Transmission across the Atlantic

2003   50th Anniversary of the discovery of DNA

2004   200th Anniversary of the first steam locomotive

2006   Bicentennial of the birth of Brunel

2009   200th Anniversary of Darwin's birth

2010   100th Anniversary of the death of Florence Nightingale

2011   500th Anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Mary Rose

2013   150th Anniversary of the London Underground

All this, and the Monarch remained on the obverse, so heads of state and commemoration of achievements are not mutually exclusive.

[evan_au]

Australian paper currency depicted the following characters (among others):

• $2 note: John Macarthur & William Farrer: Pioneers of Australian agriculture
  
• $5 note: Sir Joseph Banks, a botanist who travelled with James Cook's Endeavour.
  
• $20 note: Sir Charles Kingsford Smith & Lawrence Hargrave: Pioneers of aviation
  
• $50 note: Howard Florey, won a Nobel Prize for the discovery of penicillin
  
• $100 note: Sir Douglas Mawson (Antartctic explorer) and John Tebbutt (Astronomer)

In 1992, Australia introduced plastic currency; while a variety of characters are represented, scientists and explorers seem notable by their absence.

(Although one could argue that the polymer currency itself is a technological innovation - you don't destroy good money when you put it through the washing machine!)

[Ophiolite]

(Although one could argue that the polymer currency itself is a technological innovation - you don't destroy good money when you put it through the washing machine!)

It does give money laundering a whole new meaning.

[CliffordK]

So...  How many of our greatest American scientists were German Nazis?  It would add a new meaning to the money. 

It might not be appropriate to put British or other European scientists on American money. 

I think Orville and Wilbur Wright made it to a limited release of a 2003 Dollar Coin as well as one of the 2001 quarters.

Some of the notable non-Presidents on US coins include:
Susan B Anthony (Women's Suffrage Movement)
Sacagawea (Native American guide and interpreter for Lewis and Clark)
Helen Keller also made it to a 2003 US Quarter.
Louis Braille appeared on the 2009 US Dollar (which also featured writing in Braille).

One would also note that the Post Office has featured a variety of themes on their stamps.

[alancalverd]

The UK post office recently issued "prime ministers". Imagine the glee in the sorting office - being paid to stamp "not wanted" or "cancelled" on the Blessed Margaret Thatcher (first class standard letter), all day, every day!

[Atomic-S]

There is something to be said for that. However, I am not sure that science is all that helpful in directing the ship of state, and some of our most noted Presidents of the past have been very good at that.

[CliffordK]

There is something to be said for that. However, I am not sure that science is all that helpful in directing the ship of state, and some of our most noted Presidents of the past have been very good at that.

Good point.
No doubt scientists have played a role in making the paper the currency is printed on, and designing the computers that track the money.

However, it is a stable government and a strong economy that gives the currency value.

Hmmm...  in the past, various kings and emperors put their faces on their currency.  So, does putting a dead president or prime minister on the currency equate them with kings and emperors?

[Atomic-S]

I do not think that the analogy is exact. For one thing, dead presidents and prime ministers did not put their own likenesses on coinage, because they were not around to do it.