Mayor of Nelson Nick Smith has hit back at newly sworn-in US president Donald Trump after he claimed that America split the atom in his inauguration speech.
In his second inauguration speech President Trump listed off a bunch of accomplishments made by the United States.
The atom was first split by Kiwi Sir Ernest Rutherford, originally from Nelson, in 1917.
“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”.
Nick Smith then hit back on social media and fact-checked president Trump and said he was “surprised” by the claims.
“That honour belongs to Nelson’s most famous and favourite son Sir Ernest Rutherford.
“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).”
When Trump appointed a US ambassador to NZ, Smith said he would invite them both to Nelson to visit the Lord Rutherford Memorial to keep the “historic record on who split the atom first accurate”.
Photo Credit: RNZ
