chabot@amber.DEC (L S Chabot) (11/05/84)
If the _A_Stress_Analysis_of_a_Strapless_Evening_Gown_ article about "Chisolm's
Laws" has a copyright date of 1958, then they are still Murphy's Laws. Murphy
formulated his laws much earlier, ('40's ?) while he was doing something like
blowing up missiles at Redstone for some branch of the government. There is a
thin book about Murphy's Laws which has a description of how he came up with
them.
Sorry to jump on the bandwagon without a copy of _Books_In_Print_ handy,
but I was compelled to defend a fellow desert-born (that is, Murphy's Laws).
Oh, bury me no-o-o-t in the Ant'lope Valle-e-e-ey,
L S Chabot
UUCP: ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-amber!chabot
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shadow: [ISSN 0018-9162 v17 #10 p7, bottom vt100, col3, next to next to last]wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (11/07/84)
Actually, when you get right down to it, Murphy (whoever he was) did not formulate the 'laws'. They were postulated by engineers and others working at Redstone Arsenal during the early days of trials with captured German rockets. Murphy apparently was an engineer or worker on the project who did not get things quite right, if he actually existed at all. The name became the butt of many jibes and taunts at first. Later, anytime something went wrong, which it did with regularity on the project, Murphy was given the blame. Thus, a legend began to grow. The original book on Murphy's Laws came out in the 50's and contained a biographical sketch of Dr. Murphy. It was hilarious. The legend of Murphy grew and expanded over the years and has become even better known than the once legendary Kilroy. T. C. Wheeler
res@ihuxn.UUCP (Rich Strebendt) (11/09/84)
In response to: | Murphy apparently was an engineer or | worker on the project who did not get things quite right, if he | actually existed at all. WRONG WRONG WRONG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There really was a Mr. Murphey, and he really did state the law that is the foundation of Murphey's Laws. He was an engineer on the project that was testing the effects of high G forces on the human body. They were accellerating a Col. Stapf (spelling is probably all wrong, but may be close) on a sled with rockets and filming and telemetering information during the tests. After the first such test it was found that absolutely no telemetry data was recorded because a technician had plugged all of the connectors together backwards - something that the design of the connectors did not prevent. Mr. Murphey (perhaps Dr.) made the observation that if it was possible for something to be done wrong, it would be done wrong. The rest of "Murphey's Laws" are elaboration an embellishment on this observation. Rich Strebendt ihuxn!res
ron@logico.UUCP (Ron Moore) (11/10/84)
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!ronfaunt@saturn.UUCP (Doug Faunt) (11/11/84)
I guess I'll add my two bits. All connectors in military aircraft are SUPPOSED to be different, so that things can't be misconnected. This incldes such things as hydraulic lines. This is refered to as "Murphy-proofing". It doesn't always work. I found a case in a F4 where the radar indicator, and attitude control display could be plugged in to each others cable. The radar then indicated a problem in the transmitter, and the attitude system "passed" self-check. -- ...!hplabs!faunt faunt%hplabs@csnet-relay HP is in no way responsible for anything I say here. In fact, it may have been generated by a noisy 'phone line. My entry for official theme music of the net: "Chariots of Fire"