Jack Cover (John Higson Cover, Jr.), (1920—2009), American physicist and inventor who spent most of his career in aerospace but became famous in the mid-1970s for inventing the TASER, a handheld weapon that fires darts attached to insulated wires to deliver debilitating electric shocks at ranges of up to several metres. Cover’s goal was to devise a nonlethal means of stopping violent acts, such as riots and hijackings. Though the TASER was initially classified as a firearm because the darts were propelled by gunpowder, in 1993 Cover used compressed nitrogen to activate the darts; the modification allowed the public to purchase his invention.
