The Miracle of Murphy's Law
In the face of a stark raving mad world, Murphy cautioned us to remember “whatever can go wrong will go wrong.”
“If there’s more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way.” — Edward A. Murphy, Jr.
According to Pope Francis, a layperson may soon climb to the highest rung on the ladder of holiness. His long-sought diversity goal for the Vatican suggests that a woman could hold the equivalent of the prime minister's post. If that isn’t a shock to the system for traditionalists, what about a mild-mannered, bookish aircraft engineer with a knack for a pithy turn of phrase becoming a saint? Absurd? Not really.
We would not be surprised to learn that Major Edward Aloysius Murphy Jr., the Murphy of "Murphy's Law," is asked to join approximately 3,000 others who have been canonized since 993 AD, starting with St. Ulrich of Augsburg. And why not? Murphy wouldn't be your typical saint, that much is clear. But what makes him such an appealing candidate is a legacy that satisfies all other key criteria.
The first prerequisite for sainthood is a petitioner, in church speak, must have led a moral life, according to the tribunal in charge of these decisions, the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints at the Vatican. The second is a bit trickier. At least four of the seven cardinal virtues — humility, charity, chastity, gratitude, temperance, patience, and diligence — must be displayed in the form of a miracle. But this is where the inventor of "Murphy's Law" shines.
He leaves us with the most memorable axiom for the number one virtue: humility. Murphy gave us the antidote to deal with a stark raving mad world. He cautioned us to remember “whatever can go wrong will go wrong” because that is what happens when we get too full of ourselves and gravity pulls us back to earth. Therein lies the miracle.
While stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the late 1940s, Murphy's work concerned reliability and safety research to prevent pilots from dying in crashes. That was when he developed "Murphy's Law." According to Nick T. Spark's History of Murphy's Law, the Air Force wanted to know more about the effects of G forces on a pilot's body. If Murphy could prevent being crushed by rapid acceleration and deceleration, he would eliminate the most dreaded enemy in the sky, gravity, more commonly called the ground.
Maybe a little explanation is in order. At sea level, a person experiences a G (or gravitational) force of 1. But as evidenced by the fact that unintentional accidents on land account for roughly 7% of all fatalities in the United States, even that can be deadly. When making a turn at 200 mph, Formula One or F1 drivers can endure up to 6.5 g's. The hazard lies in the acceleration, or in the event of a collision, the deceleration rather than the magnitude of force. The maximum G force experienced on a roller coaster is 6.3 Gs, which is only bearable for a brief period. Fighter pilots are capable of enduring 8 or 9 Gs. But to maintain the blood in their upper bodies and prevent fainting, they wear specialized body suits that compress their internal organs.
The problem, according to Medical Daily, is that humans are thin-skinned. We only have a delicate layer protecting various soft organs, including the stomach, kidneys, and liver, making G-forces dangerous. Blood arteries can burst, bones can break, and organs can shift. None of the preceding pose a pleasant outcome.
Due to the importance of exposure time, it is challenging to determine the precise G-force level at which a person would perish. There are sporadic cases of people surviving unusually high G-forces, most notably Dr. John Stapp, an Air Force officer who gave Murphy full credit for his famous statement. Dr. Stapp proved that a person could endure 46.2 Gs. According to the PBS broadcast, NOVA, the experiment only lasted a few seconds, yet the stress on Stapp's body caused his weight to soar to over 7,700 pounds.
By some strange quirk of fate, Dr. Stapp happened to be at Edwards Air Force Base exactly when Murphy was there testing people's ability to withstand high G-forces during fast deceleration — for a rocket model sled named the "Gee Whiz." The term was intended to convey the abrupt stop of a 200 mph airplane in a split second. That is also referred to as a crash. The pilot likely exclaimed, "gee whiz, I'm alive," when it came to rest.
If he was still breathing.
The Sled would move about 200 mph for roughly a half mile before abruptly stopping. Dr. Stapp was overseeing the medical end of things and eventually experimented on his own body in place of the dummy when Murphy, a former World War II pilot, was enlisted to improve the accuracy of the G-force measurements.
Murphy was in charge of the test that day and was shocked to learn that a sensor readout was zero. It turned out that the technician, a young enlisted guy barely old enough to drink and unable to read a design even when sober, put the harness on incorrectly. "If there is a wrong way to do it, he'll find it," Murphy said. It may have been a slight step backward for the technician but a great leap forward for Murphy and humankind, as astronauts say.
At times, Murphy blamed the designers for the error and occasionally laid the blame at his own feet. He famously admitted to People Magazine, "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." From that moment on, the world was given its marching orders. Check everything twice.
In a news conference, Dr. Stapp claimed that "the rocket team had such a stellar safety record because they were familiar with Murphy's Law, which states that 'Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.'" The engineers were taught this principle: any time a person fails to double-check, their work is prone to mistakes. Although it wasn't the first humility lesson, it might be the most memorable.
Following Murphy's Law may be the easiest way to navigate a confusing, dangerous, and error-prone world. Like our planet, our lives travel through space faster than before, facing more difficult detours, and running up against more formidable foes of larger mass. The knowledge that we are subject to destructive G forces helps us contain our energies to overcome the challenges. Murphy's Law advises us to consider "what can go wrong?" It can help us make more optimal choices through the power of humility, which is a miracle.
For that reason alone, Murphy deserves sainthood.
