Physicists from both New Zealand and Britain have been credited with splitting the atom — but there is consensus that it was not an American.

In his Inaugural Address, Trump credited Americans with splitting the atom, an achievement credited by many to pioneering physicist Ernest Rutherford of New Zealand.

Scientists based in Manchester, not the US, made the "key breakthrough" in splitting the atom, despite Donald Trump's claims in his inaugural speech, says a lecturer at the university. The 47th US President erroneously listed the feat among his country's achievements during his address in Washington DC, after he was sworn on Monday.

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'.

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.

The president’s inauguration address rattled off a list of other crowning American feats such as ending slavery and launching into space.

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