[Ads-l] "Finagle's Law" Not in OED or Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The excerpt below from the April 1958 article mentions the connection
to John W. Campbell Jr.

[Begin excerpt - double-check for typos]
Over the years a series of laws have evolved. The laws actually
represent a distillation of experience of thousands of experimenters,
but (until Dr. Finagle came along) they were never recorded for the
study and edification of younger members of our profession because
they had no derivation - no proof. They are true because they have
always been true. Look into your own experience and see if this is not
so.

We are grateful to John W. Campbell, Jr., editor of Astounding Science
Fiction, for bringing this work to our attention, and to the many
readers of that magazine who collected and contributed samples so that
others might share in their experience.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 3:02 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The April 1958 article is called "Finagle's Laws", and it lists a
> variety of laws. Here are the four numbered laws; plus a creed and a
> motto.
>
> Date: April 21, 1958
> Periodical: Product Engineering
> Article title: FINAGLE'S LAWS . . . or why nothing in Research and
> Development happens the way it should
> Quote Page 31 and 32
> Publisher McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, New York
> Database: Internet Archive
>
> https://archive.org/details/sim_product-engineering_1958-04-21_29_16/page/32/mode/2up?q=Finagle
>
> [Begin excerpt - double-check for typos]
> ON EXPERIMENTS
> The first four laws are the only one dignified by number. Note the
> beauty and simplicity of the First Law. Also note that the remaining
> three laws refer to men's reactions to Nature - not to Nature itself.
>
> First Law: If anything can go wrong with an experiment, it will
>
> Second Law: No matter what result is anticipated, there is always
> someone willing to fake it
>
> Third Law: No matter what the result, there is always someone eager to
> misinterpret it.
>
> Fourth Law: No matter what occurs, there is always someone who
> believes it happened according to his pet theory.
> [End excerpt]
>
> [Begin excerpt - double-check for typos]
> Finagle's Creed: Science is Truth -  don't be misled by facts.
> Finagle's Motto: Smile – tomorrow it will be worse.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 1:33 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Interesting topic, Fred. Harold Faber's reference book "The Book of
> > Laws" lists two different versions of Finagle's Law together with
> > citations. I have not double-checked the citations.
> >
> > [ref] 1979, The Book of Laws, Compiled by Harold Faber, Chapter 9: The
> > Laws of Science and Technology, Quote Page 95, Times Books, New York.
> > (Verified with hardcopy) [/ref]
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > FINAGLE'S LAW (1)
> > Once a job has been fouled up, anything done to improve it makes it worse.
> > (Quoted by Brooks Atkinson, in The New York Times, February 1, 1961.)
> >
> > FINAGLE'S LAW (2)
> > If anything can go wrong with an experiment, it will.
> > (Quoted by Gunter Cohn, in Plating magazine, requoting from Product
> > Engineering, April 21, 1958.)
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 1:18 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > I don't see "Finagle's Law" in either OED or the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.  This is often said to have been coined by legendary science fiction editor John W. Campbell.  I don't know of any specific citation to Campbell.  The earliest I find in a few minutes of searching is 1958 (Nuclear Engineering, Dec. 1958, from Internet Archive).
> > >
> > > Fred Shapiro
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org