Manfred Curry

Manfred Curry (11 December 1899 – 13 February 1953) was a German born American scientist, physician, inventor, sailor and author. Born in Munich, Germany to American parents.

An accomplished olympic yachtsman he sailed more than 1400 regattas 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 phenomenon of "geomagnetic lines" called the Curry Grid.

Manfred Curry wrote a pioneering book on yacht aerodynamics and racing tactics, published in several editions and several languages, describing how he studied sailing-boat design scientifically, testing numerous rig configurations in the wind-tunnel at Göttingen. The importance of his book within yachting has been described as having brought scientific sailboat design into 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, the Genoa jib (so called because first used competitively in a regatta at Genoa) and the cam cleat (Called the "Curryklemme" in German). He described two successful racing dinghies as well innovations used on an America's Cup defending yacht. He was the most successful German yachtsman in history sailing in around 1400 races and winning more than 1000.

One of his dinghies, Aero, has recently been found and restored.

As a doctor specialising in bioclimatics and allergies he founded the American Bioclimatics Research Institute, which was renamed the Manfred Curry Clinic after his death. Curry also investigated the supposed allergenic properties of "earth radiation", a concept invented by him and his colleague Ernst Hartmann. "Earth Radiation" has never been accepted as a scientific field of study and is considered to be pseudoscience.