Transporter

The transporter is a device that allows an object to move instantaneously from one point to another by breaking down the subjects molecules into energy and transporting that energy to another point, where it is reassembled into matter. The act of transportation is often referred to as beaming.

History
On Earth, the first developments towards matter transportation was being made by Colin Blakeney. By 2052, Blakeney had constructed a prototype transporter and was ready to conduct the first experiments in transporting. Instead of using an inanimate object, Blakeney decided to use himself as a test subject and stepped into the transporter. Blakeney dematerialized safely, but the transporter's pattern buffer had been sabotaged and Blakeney did not rematerialize. Following Blakeney's supposed death, his prototype was likely destroyed and his research ignored. (TNG comic: Forgiveness). In the 2120s, Emony Erickson began to experiment with developing a transporter, and the first fully-operable transporters were operable by 2139. (ENT episode: "Daedalus").