Egg of Columbus facts for kids
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An egg of Columbus (also called Columbus's egg) is a famous saying. It refers to a task that seems impossible to do until someone shows you the trick. Once the secret is known, the task becomes very easy.
The expression comes from a legendary story about the explorer Christopher Columbus. In the tale, Columbus challenges his critics to make an egg stand on its tip. When they fail, he shows them a clever solution.
The story is often used to teach people about creativity and how to solve problems in new ways.
Contents
The Story of the Egg
The story usually takes place at a dinner party in the 16th century. Columbus was dining with many Spanish nobles. Some of the people at the table claimed that discovering the Americas was not a great achievement. They told Columbus that if he hadn't found the new trade route, someone else from Spain would have done it eventually.
Columbus Challenges His Critics
Columbus did not argue with them using words. Instead, he asked for an egg to be brought to the table. He made a bet with the nobles:
"Gentlemen, I bet that none of you can make this egg stand up on its tip like I can, without using any supports."
The nobles all tried to balance the egg. They tried and tried, but the egg kept falling over. Finally, they gave up and said it was impossible.
The Solution
When the egg came back to Columbus, he tapped it gently on the table. This cracked the shell slightly and flattened the tip. The egg then stood upright on the flattened end.
The critics were confused and realized the lesson Columbus was teaching. He showed them that after a deed is done, everyone knows how to do it. The true achievement is having the courage and creativity to be the first one to try.
Who Told the Story First?
Historians are not sure if this event actually happened. The story first appeared in a book called History of the New World, written by the Italian historian Girolamo Benzoni in 1565. This was many years after Columbus had died.
The Tale of the Architect Brunelleschi
There is an older story that is very similar to the one about Columbus. It was published fifteen years earlier by the art historian Giorgio Vasari. In this version, the clever hero is the young architect Filippo Brunelleschi.
In the early 1400s, city officials in Florence, Italy, wanted to build a massive dome for the Florence Cathedral. It was a difficult engineering task. They asked Brunelleschi to show them his model for the dome. He refused to show his work early. Instead, he challenged the other architects to make an egg stand upright on a piece of marble.
Just like in the Columbus story, the other masters failed. Brunelleschi then tapped the egg on the marble to flatten the end, making it stand. The other architects complained that they could have done the same thing. Brunelleschi laughed and replied that they could also build the dome if they knew his design.
Brunelleschi was given the job, and the cathedral was built. The finished dome even has a shape slightly like an egg.
Puzzles and Monuments
Because of these stories, the "Egg of Columbus" has become a symbol for clever ideas.
- Puzzles: The name is used for several types of brain teasers. One is a dissection puzzle where you must fit pieces together to form an egg shape. Another type includes mechanical puzzles that require a specific trick to balance.
- Monuments: In the town of Sant Antoni de Portmany on the island of Ibiza, Spain, there is a large monument celebrating the discovery of America. It is shaped like a giant egg with a model of Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria, inside it.
See also
In Spanish: Huevo de Colón para niños
- Egg balancing, a traditional game in China
- Gordian Knot, a legend about an impossible knot that was solved by cutting it
- Hindsight bias, the feeling that an event was predictable after it has already happened
- Superegg, a special mathematical shape designed by Piet Hein that can stand on its end without breaking
- Tesla's Egg of Columbus, a science display shown at the 1893 World's Fair
