antedating of "Murphy's Law" Sept. 1952

[Shapiro, Fred]

Another extremely important discovery by Stephen.  This takes us one step closer to disproving the popular anecdote about "Murphy" being someone involved with a 1949 test at Edwards Air Force Base.  The earlier the documentation, the less likely that the term and the proverb originated in 1949 and diffused widely within a very short time.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Stephen Goranson [goranson at DUKE.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 1:38 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: antedating of "Murphy's Law" Sept. 1953

Previously Fred Shapiro noted the use of the collocation "Murphy's Law" in its
now well-known sense in 1953.

Scientific American, September 1952
"The Amateur Scientist: About home-made cloud chambers and the fine
telescope of a Portugese navy officer," Conducted by Albert G. Ingalls, pp.
179f.

p.181 col. 1
At this point enters the well-known 'first law of research'--sometimes called
'Murphy's law.' The law may be stated roughly as follows: 'If anything can go
wrong, it will.'

p.182 col. 3
The department has built several successful diffusion chambers based on Dr.
Cornog's description, but in every case only after some sharp tussles with
Murphy's law.


Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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