Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site logico.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrba!logico!ron From: ron@logico.UUCP (Ron Moore) Newsgroups: net.games,net.books,net.nlang,net.lang.c,net.flame,net.jokes.d Subject: Re: Murphy's Laws Message-ID: <138@logico.UUCP> Date: Fri, 9-Nov-84 18:46:58 EST Article-I.D.: logico.138 Posted: Fri Nov 9 18:46:58 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 12-Nov-84 11:35:32 EST References: <4120@decwrl.UUCP> Organization: Logicon OSD, Woodland Hills, CA Lines: 59 Xref: sdcsvax net.games:1238 net.books:1049 net.nlang:2035 net.lang.c:3149 net.flame:6516 net.jokes.d:818 The following may not be a definitive source for Murphy's Laws, but it agrees with what I have heard from random sources: From the preface of "Murphy's Law, and other reasons why things go wrong" by Arthur Bloch, Price/Stern/Sloan Publishers, 1977: ... Our finest scholars, experts in the fields of linguistics and folk history, have tried and failed to determine the origin of Murphy's Law. Who was I to argue with such a record? Resigned as I was to go to print without resolving these burning questions, I was most surprised to receive the following letter from a certain Mr. George Nichols of Southern California: Dear Arthur Bloch: Understand you are going to publish a book, "Murphy's Law - And Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong". Are you interested in interested in including the true story of the naming of Murphy's Law? And, when I responded in the affirmative: The event occurred in 1949 at Edwards Air Force Base, Muroc, California, during Air Force Project MX981. This was Col. J. P. Stapp's experimental crash research testing on the track at North Base. The work was being accomplished by Northrop Aircraft, under contract from the Aero Medical Lab at Wright Field. I was Northrop's project manager. The Law's namesake was Capt. Ed Murphy, a development engineer from Wright Field Aircraft Lab. Frustration with a strap transducer which was malfunctioning due to an error in wiring the strain gage bridges caused him to remark - "If there is any way to do it wrong, he will" - referring to the technician who had wired the bridges at the Lab. I assigned Murphy's Law to the statement and the associated variations. ... A couple of weeks after the "naming" Col. Stapp indicated, at a press conference, that our fine safety record during several years of simulated crash force testing was the result of a firm belief in Murphy's Law, and our consistent effort to deny the inevitable. The widespread reference to the Law in manufacturers' ads within only a few months was fantastic - and Murphy's Law was off and running wild. Sincerely, George E. Nichols Reliability & Quality Assurance Mgr. Viking Project Jet Propulsion Lab - NASA Read the book, it is excellant. There are now three volumes of Murphy's Laws by Arthur Bloch. -- Ron Moore (818) 887-4950 Logicon, Operating Systems Division 6300 Variel Ave. Suite H Woodland Hills, Ca. 91367 {the.world}!trwrb!logico!ron