The mayor of a New Zealand city has vowed to summon the incoming U.S. ambassador to "set the historic record straight" following President Donald Trump's controversial claim that American experts were the first to split the atom.

Mayor Nick Smith of Nelson, the city where famed physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford was born and raised, took issue with Trump's assertion and planned to invite the ambassador to visit a memorial to Rutherford, the true pioneer of atomic science, The Guardian reported.

Mayor Smith, whose city of Nelson lies near Rutherford's hometown, expressed his frustration with Trump's error, stating he would invite the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand -- once appointed -- to visit the Lord Rutherford Memorial in Brightwater, just outside Nelson.

"So we can keep the historic record on who split the atom first accurate," Smith said, adding that the claim made by Trump had "put out" the local community, who take immense pride in Rutherford's contributions to science,........

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