Nominations have closed – but you’ll have to wait a while until you know who’s won.
The Bank of England has been asking the public for suggestions of scientists to replace James Watt as the face of its £50 note.
Thousands of people gave their ideas before the closing date on December 14.
A post on the Bank’s website says: “We’re going through a selection process now and we’ll announce the chosen character in summer 2019.”
The new note is expected to go into circulation in 2020.
The Bank previously revealed that computing pioneers Alan Turing and Ada Lovelace, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell and Stephen Hawking had all been nominated.
The Bank says on its website: “We make the decision based on the characters’ strengths, not how many nominations they get. We also take account of who we’ve chosen in the past, because we want to make sure we feature a wide diversity of people and fields on our notes.”
James Watt and business partner Matthew Boulton have graced the £50 note since 2011.
Who will replace them? Watt-ch this space.
James Watt 