Meaning of "Columbus and the Egg"?

[Barry S. Rein]

I am trying to find the origin and meaning of an allusion I recently heard
to "Columbus and the Egg". Does anyone know what this means?

Thanks,
Barry Rein

[Greg Bard]

Some people who were no longer impressed by Columbus' discovery
challenged him. They said that anyone could have done the same thing.

Columbus challenged them back. He asked if anyone could take an egg and
balance it on a flat table with the fat end up. Many tried, but in vain.

Finally, Columbus took the egg and brought it down on the table, cracking
the shell in the process. The cracked egg remained with fat end up.
Anyone COULD have done it, but only he DID it.

|------| |------------/ /\ \-------| |----------------|
| Greg |------|California /|~\/~|\ State|-----| Qui Transtulit |
| Bard |------|University,\ ~][~ / Chico|-----| Sustinet |
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[Ken Moore]

In article <D5LLI...@zeno.fit.edu>
ste...@galileo.pss.fit.edu "Luke Stevens" writes:

>Greg Bard (greg...@ecst.csuchico.edu) wrote:
>> Finally, Columbus took the egg and brought it down on the table, cracking
>> the shell in the process. The cracked egg remained with fat end up.
>> Anyone COULD have done it, but only he DID it.
>

>The way I heard the story, it was Brunelleschi instead of Columbus.

Reported by Giorgio Vasari, in his "Lives of the Artists", as being the
riddle by which Brunelleschi finally convinced the wardens of Santa
Maria del Fiore and the consuls of the Wool Guild, in 1420, that he
should be given the task of completing the Cathedral at Florence.
Vasari published his first edition of the "Lives" in 1540, so he
could have tacked on to Brunelleschi a story first told of Columbus.
However, George Bull, in his translation of the "Lives", writes:

"Vasari was particularly well informed on the life and works of
Brunelleschi, since he had a considerable amount of information
available in the _Anonymous Life of Brunelleschi_, written late in the
fifteenth century."

Brunelleschi, with achievements far exceeding Columbus's in number
and variety, was such a towering figure that Vasari had no need to
embellish his "Life".

--
Ken Moore (K...@hpsl.demon.co.uk)

[Daniel Vidal]

Barry S. Rein (barry....@jpl.nasa.gov) wrote:
: I am trying to find the origin and meaning of an allusion I recently heard

: to "Columbus and the Egg". Does anyone know what this means?

:

I've never heard the expression in English, but it is very common in
Spanish. In that language, it is used as a reference to "lateral
thinking".