Jack Cover
Lua error in Module:Infobox at line 235: malformed pattern (missing ']'). John "Jack" Higson Cover, Jr. (April 6, 1920 – February 7, 2009) was the inventor of the Taser stun gun.[1]
Biography
Cover was born in New York City on April 6, 1920, and grew up in Chicago.[1] His father was a professor of economics. His mother earned a mathematics master’s degree at the University of Chicago (U of C).[2] Cover earned a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in nuclear physics at U of C,[1] studying under Enrico Fermi.[3] During World War II, he was an Army Air Force test pilot. He later worked at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. He was a scientist at North American Aviation from 1952 until 1964 and also worked for NASA[3] (Apollo program), IBM and Hughes Aircraft.[1]
In 1970, he formed Taser Systems, Inc., named for a Tom Swift novel about the Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle. Because the Taser used gunpowder to launch the darts, the federal government considered it a firearm, a classification that ruled out a civilian market and also discouraged police and military sales.[1]
Private life
Cover was married three times, the first two ended in divorce. His last marriage was to Ginny. He had four children, a son and three daughters.[2] He had Alzheimer's disease, and died of pneumonia on February 7, 2009 at the Golden West Retirement Homer in Mission Viejo, California.[1][2][4]
Patents
- U.S. Patent 3,803,463 July 10, 1972; Weapon for Immobilization and Capture
References
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cover's obituary, Time Magazine, early 2009 (before March)
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