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Murphy's law
Sign in to savean adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".
Murphy's law is a popular saying that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong," expressing the idea that if something has the potential to fail or cause problems, it probably will. The saying matters because it captures a widespread human experience of unexpected mishaps and reminds people to prepare for potential problems rather than assume everything will go smoothly.
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Wikidata facts
- Named after
- Edward A. Murphy, Jr.
- Author
- Edward A. Murphy, Jr.
- Image
- Book cover of "A History of Murphy's Law".jpg
Show 8 more facts
- native label
- Murphy's law
- facet of
- risk management
- opposite of
- Yhprum's Law
- Commons category
- Murphy's Law
- different from
- Muphry's law
- inception
- 1949-00-00
- location of creation
- Edwards Air Force Base
- P8168
- Asia Minor Slavs
Sources (3)
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Encyclopedic overview
Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
Though similar statements and concepts have been made over the course of history, the law itself was coined by, and named after, American aerospace engineer Edward A. Murphy Jr.; its exact origins are debated, but it is generally agreed it originated from Murphy and his team following a mishap during rocket sled tests some time between 1948 and 1949, and was finalized and first popularized by testing project head John Stapp during a later press conference. Murphy's original quote was the precautionary design advice that "If there are two or more ways to do something and one of those results in a catastrophe, then someone will do it that way."
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Murphy's law” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.