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"Captain Edward A. Murphy, Jr was an engineer with the US Air Force in"Captain Edward A. Murphy, Jr was an engineer with the US Air Force in1949 when he created the harness for a rocket-powered sled designed to1949 when he created the harness for a rocket-powered sled designed tomove faster than a speeding bullet, testing how much acceleration andmove faster than a speeding bullet, testing how much acceleration anddeceleration a human being could tolerate. The test failed and the sled'sdeceleration a human being could tolerate. The test failed and the sled'spassenger (Major John Paul Stapp) was temporarily blinded because – aspassenger (Major John Paul Stapp) was temporarily blinded because – asMurphy later discovered - every one of the harness's gauges had beenMurphy later discovered - every one of the harness's gauges had beeninstalled backward. installed backward.

"Exasperated, Murphy made a snide comment that if there were two ways to"Exasperated, Murphy made a snide comment that if there were two ways todo something and one could result in catastrophe, someone would do something and one could result in catastrophe, someone would invariablyinvariablychoose to do it the catastrophic way. His colleagues overheard him andchoose to do it the catastrophic way. His colleagues overheard him andbegan repeating the adage. Before long, 'Murphy's Law' caught on andbegan repeating the adage. Before long, 'Murphy's Law' caught on andbecame widely quoted. It was added to became widely quoted. It was added to Webster's DictionaryWebster's Dictionary in 1958." in 1958."

Sources: Sources: Biography magazine, July 2003, p. 23; magazine, July 2003, p. 23; EconomistEconomist, Oct 21st 2004, Oct 21st 2004

Murphy’s LawMurphy’s Law

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If anything can go wrong, it willIf anything can go wrong, it will

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If there is a possibility of severalIf there is a possibility of severalthings to go wrong, the one thatthings to go wrong, the one thatwill cause the most damage will bewill cause the most damage will bethe first one to go wrong the first one to go wrong

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If anything just cannot go wrong,If anything just cannot go wrong,it will anywayit will anyway

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If you perceive that there are fourIf you perceive that there are fourpossible ways in which somethingpossible ways in which somethingcan go wrong, and circumventcan go wrong, and circumventthese, then a fifth way, unpreparedthese, then a fifth way, unpreparedfor,will promptly developfor,will promptly develop

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Left to themselves, things tend toLeft to themselves, things tend togo from bad to worsego from bad to worse

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If everything seems to be goingIf everything seems to be goingwell, you have obviously overlookedwell, you have obviously overlookedsomethingsomething

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If something works the first time,If something works the first time,then something must be wrongthen something must be wrong

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If something is to go wrong, it willIf something is to go wrong, it willat the wrong timeat the wrong time

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Things get worse under pressureThings get worse under pressure

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Smile tomorrow will be worseSmile tomorrow will be worse

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No one is listening until you makea mistake

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Matter will be damaged in directproportion to its value

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Everything goes wrong all at once Everything goes wrong all at once

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In nature, nothing is ever right.Therefore, if everything is goingright ... something is wrong

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Anything that can possibly gowrong will go wrong

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Nothing is as easy as it looks

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Everything takes longer thanyou think

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Whenever you set out to dosomething, something else will needto be done first

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Every solution breeds new problems

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Things will work well until suchtime when you really need them to work

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Things will break when leastexpected