In simple terms, that assertion is correct, but for those with an expertise in the field, the longer answer to who did it ...

who in 1897 discovered the electron and in 1904 proposed a model of the atom — was the first person to be credited with splitting the atom. Rutherford, the New Zealand-born scientist ...

Ernest Rutherford, a Nobel Prize winner known as the father of nuclear physics, is regarded by many as the first to knowingly split the atom by artificially inducing a nuclear reaction in 1917 ...

In 1917, while at Victoria University of Manchester in England, Rutherford was the first to intentionally split the atom through a nuclear reaction. His discoveries not only defined the modern ...

Credited with splitting the nucleus of an atom during experiments at the U.K.'s Manchester University in 1917, Rutherford was "the first to artificially induce a nuclear reaction by bombarding ...

Scientists based in Manchester, not the US, made the "key breakthrough" in splitting the atom, despite Donald Trump's claims in his inaugural speech, says a lecturer at one of the city's universities.