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

Many of those leaping on it suggested the honour was an Anglo-New Zealander one, as it was Sir Ernest Rutherford ... In 1803, John Dalton's atomic theory brought them into scientific view ...

Sir Ernest Rutherford has been called the 'father of nuclear physics' When Donald Trump claimed US scientists split the atom in his inaugural speech, even he could not have imagined the chain ...

Sir Ernest Rutherford has been called the 'father of nuclear physics' [Getty Images] ...

While there he had among his students Sir Ernest Rutherford, who in the Times of Jan. 25, pays an appreciative tribute to the stimulating lectures given by his old teacher, and remarks ...