Jack Cover

{{Infobox person

| name = John Higson Cover Jr.

| image = John Higson Cover, Jr. 45036223.jpg

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| birth_name = John Higson Cover

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|4|6}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|2|7|1920|4|6}}

| death_place = Mission Viejo, California, U.S.

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| other_names = Jack Cover

| known_for = Taser inventor

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| spouse = Ginny

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| children = 5

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John Higson Cover Jr. (April 6, 1920 – February 7, 2009) was an American aerospace scientist who was the inventor of the taser stun gun.

Biography

Jack Cover was born in New York City on April 6, 1920, and grew up in Chicago. His father was a professor of economics. His mother earned a mathematics master's degree at the University of Chicago. Cover earned a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in nuclear physics at the same university, studying under Enrico Fermi.Cover's obituary, Time Magazine, early 2009 (before March) 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 (Apollo program), IBM and Hughes Aircraft.

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.

= Private life =

Cover was married three times, the first two ended in divorce. His last marriage was to Ginny. He had five children, two sons and three daughters. He had Alzheimer's disease, and died of pneumonia on February 7, 2009, at the Golden West Retirement Home in Mission Viejo, California.{{cite news |first=Elaine |last=Woo |title=Jack Cover dies at 88; scientist invented the Taser stun gun |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-jack-cover13-2009feb13,0,4344955.story |quote=Jack Cover, an aerospace scientist who invented the Taser stun gun. a device used by thousands of law enforcement agencies to subdue unruly offenders with electrical shocks -- has died. He was 88. |work=Los Angeles Times |date=February 13, 2009 |access-date=February 13, 2009}}{{cite news |last1=Weber|first1=Bruce |title=Jack Cover, 88, Physicist Who Invented the Taser Stun Gun, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/us/16cover.html?_r=0 |access-date=January 27, 2015 |work=New York Times |date=February 16, 2009}}{{cite news |title=Inventor of Taser gun dies of pneumonia |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11698337 |quote=John "Jack" H. Cover, the inventor of the Taser stun gun used by thousands of police agencies around the world, has died. He was 88. |agency=Associated Press |year=2009 |access-date=February 13, 2009}}