Manfred Curry (11 December 1899 – 13 February 1953) was a physician, inventor, sailor and author of American citizenship. He was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

; his father (Charles) was

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and his mother (Adele)

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Career

An accomplished athlete and

yachtsman A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

who represented the US at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, he sailed more than 1400

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

s many of which he won. In later life he worked as a doctor specialising in bioclimatics and became the self-proclaimed discoverer of the

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

phenomenon of " geomagnetic lines" or "Earth radiation" (ger. ''Erdstrahlen'') called the ''Curry Grid''. In 1925, Curry wrote a pioneering book on

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

and racing tactics, published through to the present day and widely translated, describing how he undertook a scientific study on

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

design, testing various rig configurations in a

wind-tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. The significance of his book within yachting has been described by stating that he was the first to bring engineering analysis of the design of sailboats to the public eye. In the book, he describes several of his inventions or developments that are in widespread use today, including the fully battened mainsail, developments to Genoa jibsails and spinnakers, the 'Park Avenue' boom and the cam cleat (Called the "Curryklemme" in German). He described two successful racing dinghies as well as innovations used on an

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

yacht. His iconic racing dinghy, ''Aero'' which examplars many of his technical innovations has been restored. In his home town of Riederau on the Ammersee lake, Curry set up the American Bioclimatics Research Institute. After his early death at the age of 53, his widow Maude Hester-Curry dedicated the new name of Manfred Curry Clinic (which is no longer in existence). Curry also investigated the supposed pathogenic properties of "

earth radiation Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

", a concept promoted in conjunction with a fellow medical doctor

Ernst Hartmann Ernst Hartmann (born 10 November 1915 in Mannheim, d. 23 October 1992 in Waldkatzenbach, a suburb of Waldbrunn (Odenwald)) in Germany was a German medical doctor, author and publicist. "Hartmann lines", a scientifically unproven grid of invisi ...

and engineer Siegfried Wittmann.

Earth radiation Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

(E-rays) ger. ''Erdstrahlen'', which can only be measured by the subjective technique of

dowsing Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active dowsers in Ge ...

, are not a scientific field of study and are considered to be

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

. As a youth, together with his father Charles Curry, he was friends with the Irish republican activist

Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

during the latter's stay in Germany. The street Curry Park in his home town of Riederau is named after him. The magazine ''Sailing World'' inducted Manfred Curry posthumously to its Hall of Fame in 1993.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curry Manfred 1899 births 1953 deaths American male sailors (sport) German male sailors (sport) Olympic sailors of the United States Sailors at the 1928 Summer Olympics – 12' Dinghy Sailors at the 1928 Summer Olympics – 8 Metre 20th-century German physicians People in alternative medicine 20th-century German inventors American yacht designers German male writers American male writers 20th-century American inventors Pseudoscience Physicians from Munich

Career

See also

References

External links