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Murphy's Law--Origin of

Posted by Bella on May 16, 2003

In Reply to: Murphy's Law inaction! posted by James Briggs on May 16, 2003

: : : : : : : I know what it means - if anything can go wrong it will, it's Murphy's Law. But why Murphy? Who was Murphy? Where & when did this come from?

: : : : : According to the website below, he was 'Capt. Edward A. Murphy, an engineer working on [US] Air Force Project MX981, (a project) designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash,' in 1949.

: : : : : www.edwards.af.mil/history/docs_html/tidbits/murphy's_law.html

: : : : The post came up twice - a perfect example of Murphy's Law in action!

: : : I think it's more likely a perfect example of pressing the Submit button twice.

: :
: : :: Yeah OK, I have to wear the operator error thing, but if this Edward A Murphy worked on how much deceleration a person can stand in a crash, are we to assume that his experiments ended in disaster? Hence the term 'Murphy's Law'?

: In the UK, although we know of 'Murphy's Law', the preverse things in life are reckoned to be ruled by 'Sod's Law' - much the same thing!

On Yahoo, enter "Murphy's Law" and the 4th(?) choice given will say "Murphy's Law was Invented Here".
"Here" is Edwards Air Force Base in California where Captain Murphy was an engineer working on a deceleration project who, discovering a miswired something-or-other, cursed the technician responsible and said "If there is a way to do it wrong, he'll find it". Someone who kept track of such sayings wrote it down, and Murphy's Law was born.

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