Kiwis goes nuclear after Donald Trump steals ‘the one thing we did’ and claims it for America

Moments after being sworn in, President Donald Trump sparked a diplomatic incident 14,000 kilometres away and ruffled feathers in New Zealand with a hefty lie.

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

And Nick Smith, who leads Nelson City Council on the country’s South Island, will summon the American Ambassador to set the “historic record” straight.

Mr Trump made a number of false or misleading statements in his first address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States yesterday.

He accused his predecessor Joe Biden of pardoning 33 of the “absolute … worst murderers”, claimed the 2020 election that he lost was “rigged”, and described China as “operating the Panama Canal”.

US President Donald Trump delivers remarks in Emancipation Hall during inauguration ceremonies at the US Capitol. Picture: AFP

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Mr Trump also rattled off a rousing long list of historic and significant American achievements through history while speaking in the Emancipation Hall of the Capitol.

“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.”

More than 14,000 kilometres away, proud Kiwis likely bristled at the shock erasure of one of New Zealand’s most beloved figures.

“I was a bit surprised by new president Donald Trump in his inauguration speech about US greatness claiming today Americans split the atom,” Mr Smith wrote in a post on social media.

“That honour belongs to Nelson’s most famous and favourite son Sir Ernest Rutherford. He was the first to artificially induce a nuclear reaction by bombarding nitrogen nuclei with alpha particles.”

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Ben Uffindell, who runs The Civilian, a satire news website, was less diplomatic.

“Okay, I’ve gotta call time,” Mr Uffindell said on social media. “Trump just claimed America split the atom. That’s THE ONE THING WE DID.”

Nelson Mayor Nick Smith took exception to Donald Trump's erasure of a New Zealand hero.

Sir Ernest Rutherford is known as the father of nuclear physics.

The repeated theft of New Zealand’s purported achievements is a long-running source of angst, with other countries – usually Australia – taking credit for some major historic events, from Hollywood actor Russell Crowe’s nationality to the creation of beloved dessert the pavlova.

Sir Ernest was “born, bred and educated in this community” and Mr Smith said his city was “a bit put out” in the wake of the speech.

“Nelsonians and New Zealanders should be very proud of Ernest Rutherford’s achievement in 1917 in being the first to split the atom and we just need to politely remind Americans of that.

“Rutherford’s groundbreaking research on radio communication, radioactivity, the structure of the atom and ultrasound technology were done at Cambridge and Manchester Universities in the UK and McGill University in Montreal Canada (not part of the USA – yet).

“We are very parochial about Ernest Rutherford who was born, bred and educated in this community and went on to split the atom with amazing research 100 years ago, both in the United Kingdom and Canada.

“We just want to put the record of history correct. I do not want to see the achievement of Ernest Rutherford as the father of nuclear physics, being watered down in any way.”

Sir Ernest Rutherford is known as the father of nuclear physics.

Sir Ernest was “born, bred and educated” in Nelson. Picture: Getty

The mayor will call on the US Ambassador to New Zealand, when one is appointed by Mr Trump, to travel to Nelson “so we can keep the historic record on who split the atom first accurate”.

The city is home to a monument in honour of Sir Ernest.

Yesterday wasn’t the first time Mr Trump took credit on behalf of Americans for the major scientific breakthrough.

In 2020, he delivered a similarly worded speech at Mount Rushmore, saying: “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.”

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive in Emancipation Hall. Picture: AFP

Despite the latest furore, the scientific community itself is divided on who gets the precise honour of successfully splitting the atom.

Briton John Cockcroft and Irishman Ernest Walton performed the first controlled experiment to split an atomic nucleus into two in 1932.

The pair was awarded a Nobel prize in 1951.

Coincidently, Sir Ernest was the director of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge when the duo split the nucleus under his leadership.

Sir Ernest is considered the “father of nuclear physics” for performing the first transmutation of nitrogen into oxygen with alpha particles in 1919.

“We must include the nitrogen atom is disintegrated,” he declared.

He too won a Nobel prize for chemistry for “his investigations into the disintegration of the elements”. His achievements made him a hero in New Zealand and his face is carried on the country’s $100 note.