But anyway, Darwin is a tough act to follow, probably the most important scientist in history, even if not immediately as bright as Einstein or Rutherford. If you are American, best stick to your practical achievements rather than looking for blue-sky researchers to put on your cash. The moon landings are about as historical an event as mankind has ever come up with, so why not?

There is one important thing that keeps me in Britain though – we think with our brains, and not our emotions. That’s why religion is in decline here, why Darwin is on our money, and why I could never, ever live in America.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Islamic tolerance at it’s finest…” Cherry picking much? You can find intolerance under the the banner of any religion. Remember the anti-mosque sentiments in Europe? Remember the NY Islamic center uproar? There is even an entire news network dedicated to creating the uproar. The same one that’s fighting against the “war on xmas”. Erdogan’s reactionary threat strikes close to home for me but it is no different than intolerance elsewhere in this world.

We also have Darwin on our Ten Quid note.

Messier,

Armenia and Turkey both currently exist in peace. Are there terrorist groups from Turkey currently working murderously to exterminate Armenia and denying its very existence or vice-versa?

Are you brain-shocked? Edrogan has recently said that if the United States doesn’t shut up about the Armenian genocide, he’ll expel the remaining Armenians in the country! Ladies and Gentlemen, Islamic tolerance at it’s finest…

I was gonna say Bill Dembski or Stephen C Meyer, but then I thought I don’t wanna pay them a compliment.

Am I the only UK boy to never have seen one of these coins yet?

Am I the only one who, upon first seeing the one on the left, thought it was a medal? My first thought was “Oh look, a real Darwin Award!” To be awarded posthumously, of course.

Classic! LOL.

@119. ND Says:

Messier Tidy Upper : “Greeks and Turks, Pakistanis and Indians may not like each other very much but nobody major among those populations is talking of annhiliating the other ancient foe and present neighbour and arguing that wiping India / Pakistan / Turkey / Greece off the map as a religious duty.”
Well that did happen to the Armenians. That chapter is still sadly left out of the history books, thanks to active Turkish pressure.

You are missing my point.

The Armenian genocide was indeed an appalling historical episode and, yes, should be recognised more and Turkey is very wrong to try to deny & cover up that shameful part of its past but that’s another subject again.

Armenia and Turkey both currently exist in peace. Are there terrorist groups from Turkey currently working murderously to exterminate Armenia and denying its very existence or vice-versa?

No, there’s not.

And *that* is my point.

“Ther US HAS issued coins with scientists on them, George Washington Carver, Thomas Edison, not to mention a bunch of brass medals as well.”

Those coins were only commemoratives, sold to collectors. Neither the Carver half dollar, nor the Edison coin, were released into circulation.

I think the point is that they’d be unlikely to commemorate an evolutionary scientist in this way. If they wanted to put a great american evolutionary scientist on something, they certainly could – Sewall Wright, for instance, one of the three founders of the synthesis of darwinian evolution with mendelian genetics. However, I rather doubt they would. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewall_Wright

“Greeks and Turks, Pakistanis and Indians may not like each other very much but nobody major among those populations is talking of annhiliating the other ancient foe and present neighbour and arguing that wiping India / Pakistan / Turkey / Greece off the map as a religious duty.”

Well that did happen to the Armenians. That chapter is still sadly left out of the history books, thanks to active Turkish pressure.

“A mature pun is fully groan”

Where are the creationists kicking up a fuss? I’m amazed there hasn’t been a bizzare call for the conversion of the godless (almost typed goldless, ooops) Bank of England. Does this mean the creationists have given up on Phil’s blog?

http://www.blackmountaincoins.com/p/BMC/c-POLAND-COINS/1979_POL_05700.html

I always liked the alpha/beta/gamma radiation streaks on it superimposed over her profile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_pounds_%28British_coin%29

The 2009 special edition that featured Darwin has the edge script “ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 1859″ instead.

Didn’t the £2 coin have “Standing on the shoulders of giants” courtesy of Isaac Newton somewhere on it for a while? Haven’t got one on me at the moment to check.

I think that was one particular version of the £1 coin, with “On the shoulders of giants” engraved around the edge of the coin.

Don’t get too carried away, Phil. The obverse is great, but the transverse reads “Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, Defender of the Faith”,

Wrong. You have the obverse and the transverse conflated.

and it shows Brenda.

Who?

Also the highest value note £50 . . .

Nuh-uh. There’s a fifth banknote, the £100 note, as part of the “standard issue”, although it is pretty rare. There also exist some specially-issued banknotes that are not in general circulation (I can’t recall much in the way of detail, but IIRC the Bank of England printed a very few £1,000,000 notes for some reason a decade or two ago).

The queen’s head is on the front of the coin, and Darwin is on the back. All our coin of the realm has the Queen on the front.

And she is Defender of the Faith because she is the head of the Church of England. Don’t anyone forget we have an official state religion here.

John Scopes of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial!

Or (and also?) perhaps Clarence Darrow, the famed defense attorney who defended Scopes.