Rosemary Lusty

Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1911 but it was Cracroft and Walton in 1934, after Rutherford had retired, that split the atom and was awarded the Nobel. Rutherford was the founder of atomic science and of immense importance and influence and he did demonstrate that nucleus and electrons could be separated by bombardment in a discharge tube but this was NOT splitting the atom to release the energy. It is unlikely it would have been done in 1934 without his work and teaching but it is typical of infuriating, ignorant New Zealanders -a great embarrassment to we others - to claim the wrong event for Rutherford.