After being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump listed off the achievements of the country during the inaugural address including a false claim that US experts split the atom, which upset New Zealanders.
It was physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford, a New Zealander, who managed to reach that historic milestone in 1917 at Victoria University of Manchester in England and the element rutherfordium was named after him in 1997.
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New Zealand irked by Trump’s claim
Nick Smith, the mayor of Nelson, the city near which Rutherford grew up, said he would invite the US ambassador to New Zealand to “visit the Lord Rutherford memorial in Brightwater so we can keep the historic record on who split the atom first accurate”.
Rutherford is often referred to as the father of nuclear physics for his pioneering research in both atomic and nuclear physics and was honoured with a Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1908.
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“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,” Smith said in a post on Facebook.
“Rutherford’s ground breaking research on radio communication, radioactivity, the structure of the atom and ultra sound technology were done at Cambridge and Manchester Universities in the UK and McGill University in Montreal Canada ( not part of the USA - yet),” he added.
The editor of the satirical news site The Civilian Ben Uffindell had a similar reaction. “Okay, I’ve gotta call time. Trump just claimed America split the atom. That’s THE ONE THING WE DID,” Uffindell posted on X.
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Trump’s inaugural speech
“There’s no nation like our nation,” Trump said during his inaugural address. “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,” Trump said as he listed the achievements of the US.
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Not the first time
This is not the first time that Trump falsely claimed that the US split the atom.
In a similar speech at Mount Rushmore in 2020, 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!”
(With inputs from agencies)