Emory Erickson Emory Erickson was a Human inventor , famous for the invention of the molecular transporter . In addition to inventing the device , he was also the first person to be transported by one . Erickson had two children , Quinn and Danica . Emory was a good friend of Henry Archer , Jonathan Archer ' s father . In 2124 , when Henry died of Clarke ' s Disease after suffering from frequent hallucination s and pain for years , sometimes not even recognizing his own son , the relationship that Jonathan shared with Emory Erickson strengthened and he became like a surrogate father to him . ( ) In 2139 , Erickson attempted an even greater achievement by inventing a sub - quantum teleportation device . After Erickson invented the device , several men and women volunteered to test it , only to never be seen again . Among these volunteers was his own son , Quinn , who was a good friend of Jonathan Archer . Erickson himself was left paralyzed and in a wheelchair . Erickson blamed himself for his son ' s disappearance , because he continued the experiment , knowing that it was flawed . He was obsessed with gaining new - found fame . Erickson however , soon realized that his son had not died in the transport , but was trapped in subspace , waiting to be rematerialized . He spent all his time trying to find out how to bring him back . After ten years , in 2149 , he attempted to bring Quinn back . The process was not successful , and Quinn only came back as a deadly energy form , existing for only a few seconds . In 2154 , Erickson came aboard under the guise of testing a new transporter method , which supposedly had unlimited range . The evening after he and his daughter arrived on the ship , they had dinner with many senior staff officers to discuss the upcoming test . During the meal , Emory mentioned how he missed his friend Henry Archer and their discussions and he raised a glass to toast his late friend . However , it was revealed that Erickson was actually attempting to rescue his son . It was discovered that his son ' s pattern he now knew to be trapped within a subspace bubble , the Barrens , before the pattern degraded irretrievably . Erickson was successful in retrieving his son , but Quinn died seconds after his father had transported him aboard . Although his son was dead , Emory felt that it would have been better for Quinn to be dead than " somewhere in between " life and death . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Emory Erickson was played by Bill Cobbs . Before the character of Emory Erickson was invented , Manny Coto was highly aware that , whereas much had been revealed about warp drive inventor Zefram Cochrane , nothing on " Star Trek " had been about the inventor of the transporter . Coto therefore thought up the character , planning a story in which the inventor visited " Enterprise " with a hidden agenda . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 37 , No . 2 , p . 37 ) In the script of " Daedalus " , Emory Erickson was described thus ; " " 60 ' s , distinguished – and disabled , sitting in a 22nd - century wheelchair . " " In a scene description from the same script , Erickson was likened to President Franklin D . Roosevelt , regarding how Erickson was to support his own body weight at " Enterprise " s transporter console ; the script described that action as " a little like Franklin Roosevelt would support himself on a podium during a speech . " Rick Berman highly approved of how Bill Cobbs portrayed Emory Erickson . In hindsight , Berman commented , " " He gave a lovely performance in ' Daedalus ' [ . . . ] He did a real nice job , and I was very glad to get him on the show . " " ( )