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Conducted in April 1932 at the [[University of Cambridge]]'s [[Cavendish Laboratory]] in England, the physicists Cockroft and Walton successfully split [[lithium]] [[nucleus|nuclei]] by colliding them with artificially accelerated protons.  Cockroft and Walton were honored with the [[Nobel Prize]] in 1951 for this.<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1951/  ''The Nobel Prize in Physics 1951''], Nobelprize.org, 23 Jan 2013</ref>

Conducted in April 1932 at the [[University of Cambridge]]'s [[Cavendish Laboratory]] in England, the physicists Cockroft and Walton successfully split [[lithium]] [[nucleus|nuclei]] by colliding them with artificially accelerated protons.  Cockroft and Walton were honored with the [[Nobel Prize]] in 1951 for this.<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1951/  ''The Nobel Prize in Physics 1951''], Nobelprize.org, 23 Jan 2013</ref>

Cockcroft and Walton "''did not see their experiments as a "test" or "proof" of Einstein's mass-energy relationship; that was not the goal of the experiment.  Rather, they simply used that relationship in their analysis, assuming it to be valid ''"<ref>Roger H. Stuewer: ''Mass-Energy'' in ''Einstein in Context'', Cambridge University Press</ref> The [[E=mc&sup2;]] equation had in fact been proposed, and [[Quantitative_Analysis_of_Alpha_Decay|analyzed for nuclear decays]], more than 20 years earlier.  The scope of this experiment was too narrow to purport to verify the equation in the general case.  See [https://www.conservapedia.com/Theory_of_relativity#Experimental_and_Observational_Evidence_Confirming_Relativity Experimental and Observational Evidence Confirming Relativity] for a discussion of this point.

Cockcroft and Walton "''did not see their experiments as a "test" or "proof" of Einstein's mass-energy relationship; that was not the goal of the experiment.  Rather, they simply used that relationship in their analysis, assuming it to be valid.''"<ref>Roger H. Stuewer: ''Mass-Energy'' in ''Einstein in Context'', Cambridge University Press</ref> The [[E=mc&sup2;]] equation had in fact been proposed, and [[Quantitative_Analysis_of_Alpha_Decay|analyzed for nuclear decays]], more than 20 years earlier.  The scope of this experiment was too narrow to purport to verify the equation in the general case.  See [https://www.conservapedia.com/Theory_of_relativity#Experimental_and_Observational_Evidence_Confirming_Relativity Experimental and Observational Evidence Confirming Relativity] for a discussion of this point.

As explained by Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equivME/ Fernflores, Francisco, "The Equivalence of Mass and Energy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)]</ref>

As explained by Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equivME/ Fernflores, Francisco, "The Equivalence of Mass and Energy," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)]</ref>

{{cquote|As Stuewer (1993) has suggested, Cockcroft and Walton use mass-energy equivalence to confirm their hypothesis about what happens when ⁷Li is bombarded by protons. Hence, it does not seem we ought to regard this experiment as a confirmation of  E<nowiki>=</nowiki>mc&sup2;. However, if we take some of the other evidence that Cockcroft and Walton provide concerning the identification of the products in reaction p + ⁷Li → α + α as sufficient to establish that the products are indeed α-particles, then we can interpret this experiment as a confirmation of mass-energy equivalence, which is how this experiment is often reported in the physics literature.}}

{{cquote|As Stuewer (1993) has suggested, Cockcroft and Walton use mass-energy equivalence to confirm their hypothesis about what happens when ⁷Li is bombarded by protons. Hence, it does not seem we ought to regard this experiment as a confirmation of  E<nowiki>=</nowiki>mc&sup2;. However, if we take some of the other evidence that Cockcroft and Walton provide concerning the identification of the products in reaction p + ⁷Li → α + α as sufficient to establish that the products are indeed α-particles, then we can interpret this experiment as a confirmation of mass-energy equivalence, which is how this experiment is often reported in the physics literature.}}