A science-related comment made by President Trump during an inauguration address on Tuesday sparked online backlash, particularly among New Zealanders. Trump said Americans "crossed deserts, scaled mountains,

Trump's claim that American experts were responsible for this feat has been met with swift correction from New Zealanders, who proudly assert that their native son, Sir Ernest Rutherford, was the true pioneer behind this discovery.

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 a pioneering scientist revered in his homeland.

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.

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.

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.

Mayor Nick Smith said that he would invite the incoming US ambassador to visit the Rutherford memorial in Nelson 'so we can keep the historic record on who split the atom first accurate'.

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.

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