<P> The contemporary form of Murphy's law goes back as far as 1952, as an epigraph to a mountaineering book by John Sack, who described it as an "ancient mountaineering adage": </P> <P> Anything that can possibly go wrong, does . </P> <P> According to the book A History of Murphy's Law by author Nick T. Spark, differing recollections years later by various participants make it impossible to pinpoint who first coined the saying Murphy's law . The law's name supposedly stems from an attempt to use new measurement devices developed by Edward Murphy . The phrase was coined in adverse reaction to something Murphy said when his devices failed to perform and was eventually cast into its present form prior to a press conference some months later--the first ever (of many) given by Dr. John Stapp, a U.S. Air Force colonel and Flight Surgeon in the 1950s . These conflicts (a long running interpersonal feud) were unreported until Spark researched the matter . His book expands upon and documents an original four part article published in 2003 (Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)) on the controversy: Why Everything You Know About Murphy's Law is Wrong . </P> <P> From 1948 to 1949, Stapp headed research project MX981 at Muroc Army Air Field (later renamed Edwards Air Force Base) for the purpose of testing the human tolerance for g - forces during rapid deceleration . The tests used a rocket sled mounted on a railroad track with a series of hydraulic brakes at the end . Initial tests used a humanoid crash test dummy strapped to a seat on the sled, but subsequent tests were performed by Stapp, at that time an Air Force captain . During the tests, questions were raised about the accuracy of the instrumentation used to measure the g - forces Captain Stapp was experiencing . Edward Murphy proposed using electronic strain gauges attached to the restraining clamps of Stapp's harness to measure the force exerted on them by his rapid deceleration . Murphy was engaged in supporting similar research using high speed centrifuges to generate g - forces . Murphy's assistant wired the harness, and a trial was run using a chimpanzee . </P>

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