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An egg of Columbus or Columbus' egg ((イタリア語:uovo di Colombo) (:ˈwɔːvo di koˈlombo)) refers to a brilliant idea or discovery that seems simple or easy after the fact. The expression refers to an apocryphal story in which Christopher Columbus, having been told that discovering the Americas was inevitable and no great accomplishment, challenges his critics to make an egg stand on its tip. After his challengers give up, Columbus does it himself by tapping the egg on the table to flatten its tip. The story is often alluded to when discussing creativity.〔Kant, Immanuel (1790), ''Critique of Judgement'', Book II, "Analytic of the Sublime," s43, fn.1: "In my part of the country, if you set a common man a problem like that of Columbus and his egg, he says, 'There is no art in that, it is only science': ie you ''can'' do it if you know ''how''; and he says just the same of all the would-be arts of jugglers."〕 The term has also been used as the trade name of puzzles. ==Source of the story== The Columbus story may have originated with Italian historian and traveler Girolamo Benzoni. In his book ''History of the New World'', published in 1565,〔Girolamo Benzoni (1565), ''Historia del Mondo Nuovo''; Venice. English translation ''History of the New World by Girolamo Benzoni'', Hakluyt Society, London, 1857.〕 he wrote: The factual accuracy of this story is called into question by its similarity to another tale published fifteen years earlier (while Benzoni was still traveling in the Americas) by painter and architect Giorgio Vasari.〔Giorgio Vasari (1550), ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects''. Florence.〕 According to Vasari, the young Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi had designed an unusually large and heavy dome for Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral (Duomo) in Florence, Italy. City officials had asked to see his model, but he refused, proposing instead: When the church was finally built it had the shape of half an egg slightly flattened at the top. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Egg of Columbus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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