New Zealand is defending one of the most significant accomplishments by one its countrymen against claims from newly sworn-in United States President Donald Trump that America was the first to split the atom. 

Trump made the claim during his inauguration speech in Washington DC today. 

This is despite the fact New Zealander Ernest Rutherford was the first person to initiate an artificial nuclear reaction when he “split the atom” in 1917 at Victoria University of Manchester, England. 

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith told the Herald he was “amused that the new President has made such a claim”. 

Smith said: “I don’t think it will change the historical feats that Nelson’s favourite son was able to achieve so long before the new President was born.” 

On social media, Smith said he would be inviting the US Ambassador to New Zealand, upon their appointment by the new president, to Nelson to visit the Lord Rutherford Memorial. 

“Keep the historic record on who split the atom first accurate,” Smith said. 

During his inauguration today, Trump said: “There’s no nation like our nation. 

“Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, builders, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts. 

“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.” 

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Of Rutherford’s achievement, the University of Canterbury, then Canterbury College, says: “In 1917, while engaged in atomic science for war work, he became the first person to split the atom – his overarching claim to lasting scientific fame.” 

Victoria University of Manchester, meanwhile, corroborated this: “In 1917, the Nobel Prize winner actually became the first person to create an artificial nuclear reaction in laboratories at the university. 

“Rutherford’s discovery is now often described as ‘splitting the atom’ in popular accounts, but this should not be confused with the process of nuclear fission discovered later in the 1930s.” 

Smith said: “Rutherford, born in Brightwater, raised in Foxhill and Havelock and educated at Nelson College and Canterbury University went on to split the atom in 1917 at Victoria University in Manchester in the UK. He was the first to artificially induce a nuclear reaction by bombarding nitrogen nuclei with alpha particles.” 

Trump pronounced the start of a “golden age” in the United States after taking the oath for a historic second term as president, using his inaugural speech to lash out at what he described as a “broken” society that he would rescue. 

“The golden age of America begins right now. From this day forward our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world,” Trump said in the US Capitol, where his inauguration was held indoors due to chilly weather. 

While promising renewal, Trump’s tone was characteristically dark, denouncing what he said had been a “betrayal” of Americans by a “radical and corrupt establishment”. 

“For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair,” he said. 

“From this moment on, America’s decline is over.” 

- AFP with NZME 

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.