Captain Ed Murphy

Aerospace engineer known for Murphy's law: "if anything can go wrong, it will".

Character

Cinematic

Lethal Weapon

Captain Edward A. Murphy Jr. (January 11, 1918 – July 17, 1990) was an American military officer, engineer, and test pilot who formulated Murphy’s Law, which states that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

Murphy was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1940. He served as a pilot during World War II, flying B-17 bombers in the European theater. After the war, he remained in the Air Force and became a test pilot. In 1947, he was assigned to the Air Force’s Flight Safety Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where he conducted research on human factors in aviation safety and developed the concept of Murphy’s Law.

Murphy retired from the Air Force in 1967 with the rank of captain. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal for his service during World War II, and received the Collier Trophy in 1956 for his contributions to aviation safety. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1990.

Murphy was known for his sense of humor and often joked about his own law. He once said, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not doing anything.” Murphy passed away on July 17, 1990, at the age of 72.