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John H. “Jack” Cover the Inventor of TASER Technology Has Passed Away
John H. “Jack” Cover, the original inventor of the TASER® technology, passed away at his home on February 7, 2009 due to Alzheimer’s and pneumonia at the age of 88-years-old.
Jack was a dedicated physicist who in the 1960’s read about President Lyndon Johnson’s Blue Ribbon Crime Commission report that urged the development of non-lethal weapons development to combat airplane hi-jacking, riots and civil unrest occurring at that time. Around that same time, Jack who was the Chief Scientist for NASA’s Apollo Moon Landing program while at North American Aerospace read a Los Angeles Times story of a hiker “frozen” to a fence that was connected to a downed high-voltage power line for several hours and survived. |
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Jack's quest to develop his first electronic control device began in 1966 when he developed working models and named them after his favorite childhood character.
Tom A. Swift and his Electric Rifle (TASER®) |
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Because of these two incidents, Jack’s mind began an incredibly long and arduous journey of developing an effective non-lethal weapon. In his research, Jack began testing pulsed high-voltage but low-power current and created the first TASER® ECD as a response to resistance. He eventually named his invention after his favorite childhood fictional character named Tom Swift, which was written by Victor Appleton. Jack created an acronym from the title of one of the Tom Swift books entitled, “Tom (A.) Swift and his Electric Rifle” creating the acronym TASER® which is the source of the registered trademarked name “TASER” owned by TASER International today.
“Jack was one of the most influential inventors of modern times who affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers, citizens and even criminal suspects,” said Rick Smith, CEO and Founder of TASER International. “Jack’s dream of reducing violence through the TASER technology was realized since his earliest invention of the original TASER ECD. Jack served as our chief scientist in our founding days at TASER International and he will be greatly missed,” continued Smith.
In Jack’s memory, TASER International has donated money to the Alzheimer’s Association to help further their research efforts. I have challenged our employees and fellow law enforcement clients, who to this day, can thank Jack Cover for helping the world to become less violent to donate a minimum of $10 to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Click Here to go to the TASER website.
Click Here to make a donation in honor of Jack Cover. |
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