Murphy's Law in 1952 Book

[Fred Shapiro]

It turns out that Murphy's Law does appear in the 1952 book reviewed in
the Los Angeles Times:

"ANYTHING THAT CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG, DOES.
 -- Ancient mountaineering adage"
        John Sack, _The Butcher: The Ascent of Yerupaja_ (1952),
        epigram, page 2

On the basis of the above citation and other early references to this as
an established proverb in various fields, such as the theater, I will
assert that the standard Edwards Air Force Base story of the origin of
Murphy's Law (supposedly happened in 1949, not documented in any way until
1955) represents at most the application of an old saying to a new
engineering context.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------