Murray received his Ph.D. in geology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1955 and joined Standard Oil of California as a geologist.

Murray began working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (managed by/affiliated with Caltech) in 1960, and served as its director from April 1, 1976, to June 30, 1982.

[3][4] He was an important force in promoting the recruitment and hiring of female engineers at the lab, where more women are employed today than any other NASA facility.

As he took over management of JPL, he expressed reservations about the Viking lander program, pointing out that the biological experiments included with the spacecraft were not sufficient to accomplish their stated goals.

[6] In 1971, he participated in a symposium on the occasion of the arrival of Mariner 9 to Mars, together with Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan, and Walter Sullivan.