George Nichols, who helped give birth to Murphy’s Law, will make an exceedingly rare public appearance tomorrow night (Jan 27) at Caltech. He was head of the project at Edwards Air Force Base in California where, in 1949, he, Colonel John Paul Stapp, and Captain Edward A. Murphy, Jr. jointly, if disjointedly, gave rise to the Law. Stapp, Murphy, and Nichols were awarded the 2003 Ig Nobel Prize in the field of Engineering.
George Nichols will be part of a presentation by AIR editor Marc Abrahams, that asks the question “What’s It Take to Win an Ig Nobel Prize?” Historian Nick Spark, author of the most definitive account of the history of the history of Murphy’s law, will also take part.
The event will be at Beckman Auditorium, at 8:00 PM. It’s free. Details are presented here.