Egg of Columbus

The Egg of Columbus is a figure of speech that describes an amazingly simple solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem. Similar significance of the Gordian knot.

Origin

The origin of the phrase is to be based on an anecdote that is told like this:

Originally, the anecdote of the egg of Columbus by the Italian artist Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) on his compatriot Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) had been coined. This builder is by solving the " egg problem" have been awarded the contract to build the dome of the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore. That would make the anecdote certainly be appropriate, since the dome in Florence apparently reminiscent of the shape of an egg, which is pushed on top.

The connection with Columbus goes back to Girolamo Benzoni, of the anecdote in his book on the history of the New World ( Historia del mondo nuovo, Venice 1565) told in the Columbus version, but this acknowledges that he knew the thing just hearsay.

In South America, a version is distributed, the egg is not pressed after Columbus, but has put in aufgehäuftes salt.

Miscellaneous

Although common in many European languages ​​, the phrase in English seems to be in use unknown or at least not generally.

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is the " Egg of Columbus " but mentioned as follows: "Twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay [ ... ] They are not perfect ovals - like the egg in the Columbus story, They Are Both crushed flat at the contact end [ ... ] "(Eng. 20 miles away from the city [ are ] two enormous eggs, identical in shape and separated only by a courtesy distance [ ... ] they are not perfect oval, but as in the story of the egg of Columbus they are pressed at the contact end of [... ] )

Also in Mary Shelley's preface to Frankenstein finds the egg of Columbus Mention: "Invention [ ... ] does not Consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos. [ ... ] In all matters of discovery and Invention, even of thosethat appertain to the imagination, we are Continually Reminded of the story of Columbus and his egg. "

On the occasion of " World Columbian Exhibition" for the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America Nikola Tesla developed for the state of Westinghouse Electric induction motor, the rotor consists of a metal egg. Due to the rapid rotation movement, the egg may like a top even without the "trick of Columbus " are on the top. The experiment can be considered today in Belgrade Tesla Museum.