Ernest Walton was the first scientist to split the atom.

Walton, along with his colleagues Ernest Rutherford and John Cockcroft, worked on a shoestring budget, building apparatus out of, amongst other things, old battery leads and glass cylinders from petrol pumps.

While they worked on this problem using such crude equipment, other countries were using high quality equipment and better financial backing.

The method being used was to accelerate protons into a lithium target using extremely high voltages (400,000 volts). This was very dangerous and, using far superior equipment, some Swiss scientists had been killed trying the same experiment.

Despite all the odds being against them, on April 14th, 1932, they succeeded in being the first to split the atom, and the first of them to see the reaction taking place was Walton. In his report he wrote: "In the microscope there was a wonderful sight. Lots of scintillations, looking just like stars flashing out momentarily on a clear dark night." This provided the world with atomic power.

In memory of Ernest Walton, the Walton Science and Technology Buliding at the Methodist College in Belfast is dedicated in honour of this "old boy" of the school.