In his Inaugural Address, Trump credited Americans with splitting the atom, an achievement credited by many to pioneering physicist Ernest Rutherford of New Zealand.

A New Zealand mayor has invited the American ambassador for a history lesson, after US President Donald Trump appeared to imply it was the US that split the atom – which it is not alone in and certainly wasn't the first to do.

The tale of splitting the atom isn't just about America—it's a journey from New Zealand to Manchester, led by the brilliant mind of Ernest Rutherford, the true father of nuclear physics.

After President Trump's claim, a mayor in New Zealand pointed out that work to split the atom was actually pioneered by physicist Ernest Rutherford.

The achievement is also credited to English scientist John Douglas Cockroft and Ireland's Ernest Walton, researchers ... were done at Cambridge and Manchester Universities in the UK and McGill ...

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, he was the first to split an atom in 1917 at Victoria University of Manchester in England ... John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton under Rutherford’s ...

The president repeated false claims related to the 2020 US election in addition to unfounded allegations against immigration. View on euronews

New Zealanders upset after Trump falsely claims US split the atom: ‘The one thing we did’ - Trump gets called out on social media for repeating erroneous claim during inauguration speech