The famous face chosen to grace the new £50 note could be Margaret Thatcher, after the former prime minister was accepted by the Bank of England as a “scientist”.

The Bank’s governor, Mark Carney, says the new banknote will highlight the UK’s contribution to science.

Of the total of 174,112 nominations, the Bank says it has come up with an 800-strong shortlist, which includes the late Baroness Thatcher.

Before she became a Conservative MP in 1959, Britain’s first female prime minister worked briefly as a chemist for a food company.

The criteria for appearing on the banknote are to be real, dead and have contributed to British science in some way