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

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 ...

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.

The dissenting parties, at the very least, seem to agree on one thing: Whoever first split the atom, it was not an American. Rebecca Priestley, professor of science in society at Victoria ...