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

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.

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.

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.

A New Zealand mayor has invited the American ambassador for a history lesson, after US President Donald Trump appeared to imply it was the US that split the atom – which it is not alone in and certainly wasn't the first to do.

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,