The Grove's bow and the Manhattan Project fact or fiction?

[Loosenock]

At one time I heard or read a story that General Leslie Groves, head of the US Manhattan Project during WWII, challenged the scientist of the Manhattan project to develope the perfect recurve bow.  He did this to to give the scientists a mental break from the stress and pressures of the developement of the device.  They were successful in designing the perfect recurve and General Groves later gave this infomation to his brother or other relative who actually put the bow into production.

Any know if this is fact or fiction?

[dpowers311]

What would the perfect recurve be? That is a very had question to get one answer from everyone.

Not sure.

[Gene Charbonneau]

Fiction, but with some similarities.

Check this out

  Harold Groves Spitfire Bow  

I had one.

Very nice, but no "alien spaceman technology  

[Loosenock]

I could see where it would be a very good question to ask the scientists.  It would also incourage them to work together and agree on a design.  The design could be complex, perfection in material, limb cross section, length, curvature, lamination tapers and on and on it could go.

Gene: thanks for the link.  Its interesting to know that there is a connection of some sort.

[Loosenock]

Was Harold related to the General, Leslie Groves?

[Gene Charbonneau]

Joe

Appears not.

Interesting man, though.

  Harold Groves -- Ancestry

[Bill Carlsen]

Harold Groves was a machinist who worked with reknowned physicist Robert (?) Oppemheimer on the trigger for nuclear bombs during WW2. Groves was a bowhunter and he and Oppenheimer worked in collaboration on the development of the Groves limb and powerstroke of said limbs. This led to the developement of the Dynastress process that essentially glues up the limbs in a two stage process giving the limbs great preload. Harold Groves was way ahead of his time and it would have been interesting if he had the materials to work with we have today.