Who Was Murphy?

There's an old adage that says "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." This saying is referred to as Murphy's Law. There have been books with names using Murphy's Law, usually containing funny pictures of crashes and unusual occurrences that would symbolize a bad day. As humorous as these are, the fact remains that in some cases, if there's a chance of something failing, then it will undoubtedly and eventually happen. The question of this post is a simple one: have you ever wondered who Murphy was?

There have been many books and websites that claim to know the origin of Murphy's Law. There is an official website of Murphy's Law that claims to know the origin, but it is filled with Murphy legends that are no better or worse than any other place. According to some sources, Murphy was actually Capt. Edward A. Murphy of the US Air Force. He worked on many projects including one called the MX981, which was designed to see how a person would react to sudden deceleration, and how much a person could withstand. As legend goes, there was wiring problem, and Capt. Murphy said of the technician who'd wired it wrong: "If there's a way to wire it wrong, he'll find it." In 1949, supposedly the project manager kept a list of laws, and he wrote this one down, and next to it he put "Murphy's Law".

But is this really the origin of Murphy's Law? Can it realle be that simple? Nothing in life is, I'm afraid. The American Dialect Society (ADS) has researched the origin of this and many other phrases. They found that in 1877 there was a version of Murphy's Law in a report from an engineering society by Alfred Holt: "It is found that anything that can go wrong at sea generally does go wrong sooner or later." In 1866, a mathematician named Augustus de Morgan wrote the phrase "what-ever can happen will happen". A British stage magician named Nevil Maskelyne wrote in 1908: "everything that can go wrong will go wrong." In the early 1950's, the saying begins to pop up more prevalently. In a mountaineering book by Jack Sack in 1952, he writes "anything that can go wrong, does", and he attributes it to an old mountaineering saying. In a book by Anne Roe, the saying went "If anything can go wrong, it will", and it is called the "Murphy's law or the fourth law of thermodynamics". And so on and so on.

The origin becomes rather murky when you take into account all these other places where it could have been originated. There was a book published in 1977 by Arthur Bloch called "Murphy's Law, and other reasons why things go WRONG", which was the first in a series. Once again, the Capt. Ed Murphy story came up at publication. George Nichols wrote a letter to Bloch explaining the story about Capt. Ed Murphy, claiming it was the first public time the phrase was used. The letter itself was published in the book, and since then, Capt. Murphy has been attributed as the originator.

But did he really create it? In 2003, in an article called "Why Everything You Know About Murphy's Law Is Wrong" and then a book called "A History of Murphy's Law" both by Nick T. Spark, Capt. Murphy's origination of the law is called into question. Supposedly it is true that Murphy said such things, but people referred to it as Murphy's Law as a mockery of Capt. Murphy and his supposed arrogance. Apparently, not all people liked Capt. Murphy, but this has been a debate for many years as to the original meaning and intent of the saying. However, it is clear that the phrase itself (in one form or another) had existed for a long time. The phrase itself has become part of history, but it is impossible to trace where it actually came from. The fact that people put Murphy's name on it would indicate that Murphy originated the phrase, but as it turned out, he didn't. Many people attribute the phrase to him, but he was just simply the first person to have his name attached to it.



A History of Murphy's Law - Nick T. Spark

 And that is a lesson of history. It doesn't matter who said what first, it only matters who remembers who said it. Because the idea of Murphy's Law made it into pop culture, Capt. Murphy was solidified into the lexicon of phrases. It doesn't really matter who said the phrase first or where it came from, the fact that it has been associated with Capt. Murphy will not be taken away until the true origin is found, which I don't think is possible. Pop culture is one of those odd things that is filled with a mixture of half-truths, and this is just another example. So, in conclusion, the actual text of Murphy's Law is really no more than an older phrase that has been attributed to one man. And that's that.

Bet you didn't know that!