Donald Trump vexed New Zealanders on the first day of his presidency after he claimed that America split the atom – a feat achieved by Sir Ernest Rutherford from Nelson in New Zealand.
Mr Trump was highlighting America’s achievements during his swearing-in ceremony for his second term in the White House when he gave credit to the US for the historic achievement by the revered physicist.
Mr Trump was called out on social media by Nick Smith, the mayor of the city of Nelson near where the physicist grew up, who said he was surprised by the US president making such a claim.
“I was a bit surprised by new president Donald Trump in his inauguration speech about US greatness claiming today Americans split the atom when that honour belongs to Nelson’s most famous and favourite son Sir Ernest Rutherford,” Mr Smith said.
He said he would be inviting the US Ambassador to New Zealand to Nelson so that he can visit the Lord Rutherford Memorial in Brightwater “so we can keep the historic record on who split the atom first accurate”.
Rutherford, a farmer’s son who worked in the UK and Canada, was a researcher in both atomic and nuclear physics. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, he was the first to split an atom in 1917 at Victoria University of Manchester in England.
The atom was fully split in a controlled manner in 1932 by British and Irish researchers John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton under Rutherford’s supervision.
Mr Trump was addressing a high-profile gathering of world leaders, billionaires and politicians when he said: “Americans pushed thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness, they crossed deserts, scaled mountains, braved untold dangers, won the wild west, ended slavery, rescued millions from tyranny, lifted billions from poverty, harnessed electricity, split the atom, launched mankind into the heavens and put the universe of human knowledge into the palm of the human hand.”
Trump’s remarks provoked a flurry of online posts by New Zealanders about Rutherford, whose work is studied by New Zealand schoolchildren and whose name appears on buildings, streets and institutions. His portrait features on the 100-dollar banknote.“Okay, I’ve gotta call time. Trump just claimed America split the atom,” Ben Uffindell, editor of the satirical New Zealand news website The Civilian, wrote on X. “That’s THE ONE THING WE DID.”
This is, however, not the first time Mr Trump has made this inaccurate claim.
In a speech in 2020 at Mount Rushmore Mr Trump said: “Americans harnessed electricity, split the atom, and gave the world the telephone and the internet. We settled the wild west, won two world wars, landed American astronauts on the moon – and one day soon, we will plant our flag on Mars!”
