robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (11/13/84)
Murphy's Law has been pretty well hashed out now, but having promised a
summary, I am reporting the two most informative replies that I
received, from Rob Mitchell and Jeff Woolsey:
(- Toby Robison
allegra!eosp1!robison
or: decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison
alternate: princeton!eosp1!robison)
In MURPHY'S LAW AND OTHER REASONS WHY THINGS GO GNORW! (Price/Stern/Sloan
1977), author Arthur Bloch tells about a letter he received when
researching the book. I reprint the letter below, without permission:
The event occurred in 1949 at Edwards Air Force Base, Muroc
California during Air Force Project MX981. It was Col. J. P.
Stapp's experimental crash research testing on the track at
North Base. The work was being accomplished by Northrup Aircraft,
under contract from the Aero Medical Lab at Wright Field. I was
Northrop's project manager.
The Law's namesake was Captain 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.
George E. Nichols
Reliability and Quality Assurance Mgr.
Viking Project
Jet Propulsion Lab -- NASA
Rob Mitchell
{allegra,ihnp4}!hogpd!jrrt
--------------------
Some more info from umn-cs!woolsey:
Nichols went on to point out that the law was off and running after it was
alluded to in a press conference a few weeks later. A similar letter appeared
in late 1977 in Authur Bloch's book "Murphy's Law." Further detail on
project MX981 and Murphy were supplied to the author when he contacted
Robert J. Smith, Chief of the History Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base. Smith was unable to confirm the actual naming but was able to supply
information on Murphy--graduated from West Point in 1940, was a pilot as
well as an engineer, worked on a number of research projects and would
be sixty years old today. The mysterious-sounding MX981 was intended
"to study the factors in human tolerance to high decelerative forces
of short duration in order to determine criteria for design of aircraft
and protective equipment." As Smith adds, "If this project gave birth
to Murphy's Law, hopefully, the consequences were minor.amie73@hogpd.UUCP (K.HEIDEL) (11/13/84)
q q u q q