Murphy’s law
What does Murphy’s law emphasize?
Who is credited with the contemporary version of Murphy’s law?
What was the purpose of the U.S. Air Force research project MX981?
What is Finagle’s law?
If you’ve ever muttered, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” (or something similar), you’ve cited Murphy’s law. The adage highlights the unpredictability of situations and emphasizes the importance of being prepared for the unexpected. Often delivered in a pessimistic or humorous manner, the maxim serves as a reminder that even the best-laid plans can be subject to the fickleness of fate, and it’s best to anticipate difficulties, have contingency plans, and persevere when facing adversity.
Other variations of the law’s phrasing include:
- What can go wrong will go wrong.
- Everything that can go wrong will.
- If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.
History
While the sentiment dates back centuries (and probably millennia), the contemporary version of Murphy’s law is attributed to U.S. Air Force Maj. Edward A. Murphy, Jr., and Col. John P. Stapp.
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In the mid-1940s, Stapp was working on an Air Force research project at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Code-named MX981, the project examined the effects of gravitational forces (G-forces) on fighter pilots during acceleration and deceleration. The research team used a rocket sled that traveled at speeds of more than 200 miles per hour (322 kph) on a 1.9-mile (3-km) test track and could come to a complete stop in less than one second.
Murphy, an instrumentation engineer, had designed electronic strain gauge sensors that could accurately measure the amount of G-force applied during deceleration. In 1949 he led the research project’s team of data collectors in an experiment in which the sensors were wired to Stapp’s harness to measure the G-forces on various parts of his body. After the first test returned a result of zero, Murphy realized that his assistant had connected all of the sensors incorrectly. A furious Murphy then muttered something along the lines of, “If there are two ways to do something, and one of those ways will result in disaster, he’ll do it that way.”
Weeks later at a press conference, when asked by a reporter how the team managed to maintain a good safety record on such risky experiments, Stapp responded that his team operated under “Murphy’s law,” meaning, “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Thus Murphy’s law was born. Three years later Anne Roe’s book The Making of a Scientist (1952) introduced the concept to the broader world.
Predecessors to Murphy’s law
Earlier versions of Murphy’s law expressing similar thoughts date back at least to 1866, when British mathematician Augustus De Morgan wrote, “The first experiment already illustrates a truth of the theory, well confirmed by practice, what-ever can happen will happen if we make enough trials.”
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In 1877 British shipowner and engineer Alfred Holt wrote in a report for the Institute of Civil Engineers, “It is found that anything that can go wrong at sea generally does go wrong sooner or later, so it is not to be wondered that owners prefer the safe to the scientific.” British stage magician Nevil Maskelyne wrote in a 1908 issue of The Magic Circular, “It is an experience common to all men to find that, on any special occasion, such as the production of a magical effect for the first time in public, everything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
“Anything that can possibly go wrong does,” was also described as an “ancient mountaineering adage” by author John Sack in the epigraph of his book The Butcher: The Ascent of Yerupaja (1952).
Corollaries to Murphy’s law
In the United Kingdom, the maxim known as Murphy’s law is commonly referred to as Sod’s law. Since the law first gained recognition, numerous other laws and observations similar to Murphy’s law have been put forth that apply to a variety of situations. Some of them include:
- Finagle’s law: Anything that can go wrong will—and at the worst possible moment for the people who least deserve it.
- Boob’s law: You always find something in the last place you look.
- Issawi’s law of progress: Most things get steadily worse. Also, a shortcut is the longest distance between two points.
- Etorre’s observation: The other line always moves faster.
- Muphry’s law (the misspelling is intentional): If you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written; if an author thanks you in a book for your editing or proofreading, there will be mistakes in the book; the stronger the sentiment expressed in either, the greater the fault; any book devoted to editing or style will be internally inconsistent.
Murphy’s law as a science
According to British evolutionary biologist and ethologist Richard Dawkins, laws such as Murphy’s and Sod’s can’t be proven because they require inanimate objects to have desires. However, each of these laws is supported by a natural law—that of entropy. Used in the study of thermodynamics, entropy proves that energy changes forms, and systems tend to end up in discombobulated states.
Additionally, journalist Jon Henley pointed out in an article in The Guardian that:
There is no point disputing Murphy’s Law (ML). It is both correct and self-proving, as can be shown by the following: ML states that if anything can go wrong, it will. ML itself can therefore go wrong. If ML can go wrong, then things can sometimes go right. We know from experience that things do sometimes go right. Ergo, ML can go wrong. Ergo, ML is correct and self-proving.