The New Zealand city of Wellington President Donald Trump’s assertion that Americans split the atom, among other untrue and deceptive statements in his inaugural address, infuriated New Zealanders on social media, who claimed the accomplishment belonged to a trailblazing scientist who was admired in his native country.
Many people believe that Ernest Rutherford, the pioneer of nuclear physics and recipient of the Nobel Prize, was the first person to intentionally split the atom in 1917 while working at a Manchester, England, university by creating a nuclear reaction.
The accomplishment is also attributed to Ernest Walton of Ireland and John Douglas Cockroft of England, who worked at a British laboratory established by Rutherford in 1932. Americans aren’t blamed for it.
According to Trump’s inaugural speech on Monday, Americans have conquered deserts, climbed mountains, faced insurmountable risks, conquered the Wild West, abolished slavery, saved millions from oppression, lifted millions out of poverty, harnessed electricity, split the atom, propelled humanity into the sky, and placed the entirety of human knowledge in the palm of the hand.
The mayor of Nelson, New Zealand, where Rutherford was born and received his education, Nick Smith, a politician, expressed some surprise at the assertion.
Smith posted on Facebook about Rutherford’s groundbreaking work at Cambridge and Manchester Universities in the United Kingdom and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, on radio communication, radioactivity, the structure of the atom, and ultrasonic technology.
In order to maintain the historical record of who split the atom first, Smith promised to invite the next U.S. ambassador to New Zealand to visit the memorial at Rutherford’s birthplace.
Although it highlights Rutherford’s prior accomplishments in detecting the proton, postulating a central nucleus, and charting the atom’s structure, a webpage for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of History and Heritage Resources attributes the milestone to Cockroft and Walton.
New Zealanders’ online posts about Rutherford, whose work is studied by New Zealand schoolchildren and whose name is displayed on buildings, streets, and institutions, were sparked by Trump’s comments. The 100-dollar bill contains his picture.
Alright, it’s time for me to call. Ben Uffindell, publisher of the satirical New Zealand news website The Civilian, stated on X that Trump recently asserted that America split the atom. We only did that one thing.