Science-Themed Money

A vote by the Swiss National Bank to put images of the AIDS virus and an embryo on currency is causing a ruckus among the country's citizens.

The science-themed banknotes were created by Zurich artist Manuel Krebs and won first prize in a competition held by the Switzerland's central bank. The current banknotes features portraits of famous Swiss artists like the sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti.

The underlying theme of the new series is "Switzerland open to the world," with Switzerland being presented as a country open to the rest of the world and as an international meeting place. The judges said the design was chosen for its "semantic expressiveness" and for the way the front and back of the notes were linked.

The design for the new 10-france note, for example, shows a planet on the front, and the shape is mirrored on the back by a blood cell. The 100-franc note shows an embryo on the front and a map of the continents on the back, with a watermark in the shape of a brain.

Some of the other images include blood cells, a mitochondrion, and the human circulatory system.

The Swiss National Bank will make a final decision on a new banknote design next spring and the notes may start circulating as soon as 2008.

--Ker Than

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Credit:  Swiss National Bank