The invention discloses Kurthia gibsonii and an application of Kurthia gibsonii in splitting of 1-phenyl-1,2-glycol. The bacterial strain is Kurthia gibsonii SC0312, and a presevation number is CCTCCNO: M 2017157, The strain is preserved at the China Center for Type Culture Collection at Wuhan University, Wuhan, China on March 31st, 2017. The Kurthia gibsonii is capable of splitting racemic 1-phenyl-1,2-glycol to prepare (S)-1,2-diphenyl-1,2-ethanediol, has characteristics of high catalytic selectivity, high yield for product, simple conversion operation, safety, low cost, mild reaction conditions and environmental friendliness, can be applied to the fields of medicine, pesticides, cosmetics, liquid crystal materials, and the like, and has good application development prospects.