U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration in an inauguration speech that Americans “split the atom” prompted vexed social media posts on Tuesday by New Zealanders, who said the achievement belonged to

Donald Trump angered New Zealanders on his first day in office when he asserted that America split the atom, something that Sir Ernest Rutherford accomplished.

Nick Smith, the mayor of Nelson, challenged Trump’s claim Americans split the atom, stating the feat was actually achieved by New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford.

Physicists from both New Zealand and Britain have been credited with splitting the atom — but there is consensus that it was not an American.

A small town mayor in New Zealand has picked a nuclear fight with Donald Trump, after the freshly sworn-in US president heaped praise on American scientists for splitting the atom.

The mayor of a New Zealand city has rubbished an eyebrow-raising claim made by President Donald Trump during his wild inauguration speech.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Among other false and misleading claims in U.S. President Donald Trump ’s inauguration addresses on Tuesday, his declaration that Americans “split the atom” prompted vexed social media posts by New Zealanders, who said the achievement belonged to a pioneering scientist revered in his homeland.

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.

The president’s inauguration address rattled off a list of other crowning American feats such as ending slavery and launching into space.

Donald Trump has sparked outrage in New Zealand following a statement during his second-term inauguration speech in Washington, D.C.

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