Theodore Kaczynski

Dr. Theodore John Kaczynski, Ph.D., also known as the Unabomber (born May 22, 1942) is a Polish-American terrorist who attempted to fight against what he perceived as the evils of technological progress by sending mail bombs to various people over almost eighteen years, killing three and wounding 29. He was the target of the FBI's most expensive manhunt ever.

Early life

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ted Kaczynski was intellectually gifted as a child and known to be extremely shy and aloof. While an infant, Kaczynski had a severe allergic reaction to medication. He was hospitalized for several weeks and was allowed only infrequent visits from his parents, who were barred from holding their child. The once-happy baby reportedly was never the same. According to his mother, he initially cried incessantly and would plead for her comfort. Afterwards he became increasingly withdrawn and unresponsive to human contact, developing "an institutionalized look." By all accounts Kaczynski's parents were warm and loving towards both him and younger brother David.

Related Topics:
Chicago, Illinois - Allergic reaction

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Friends and neighbors noticed the boy's intellectual gifts, but thought his social skills were severely lacking: "I would see him coming in the alley. He'd always walk by without saying hello. Just nothing," said Dr. LeRoy Weinberg, a former Kaczynski neighbor. "Ted is a brilliant boy, but he was most unsociable ... This kid didn't play. No, no. He was an old man before his time." Some experts have suggested he suffers from Asperger's syndrome, which could account for this behavior.

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He skipped two grades, graduating from high school in 1958 and entering Harvard at the age of 16, majoring in mathematics.

Related Topics:
1958 - Harvard - Mathematics

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While a student at Harvard, Kaczynski participated in psychological experiments. Kaczynski is mentioned in an article http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/science/31hitler.html about a long-ignored personality profile of Adolf Hitler, written by Dr. Henry A. Murray for the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) during World War II. It says: "Dr. Murray himself was a controversial figure. Having returned to Harvard after the war, he was involved in psychological experiments in 1959–1962 in which a stress test similar to one the O.S.S. had used to assess recruits was administered to student volunteers. Among them was the young Theodore J. Kaczynski, a precocious student at Harvard who later became known as the Unabomber. Lawyers for Mr. Kaczynski, who pleaded guilty in 1998 to letter bomb attacks that killed 3 people and wounded 28 others, traced some of his emotional instability and fear of mind control to those tests."

Related Topics:
Adolf Hitler - Henry A. Murray - Office of Strategic Services - World War II - 1959 - 1962 - 1998

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In 1962 Kaczynski graduated from Harvard. After graduation, he attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, earning a master's degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics. Kaczynski began a research career at Michigan, though he made few friends. One of his professors at Michigan, George Piranian, said, "It is not enough to say he was smart." He earned his Ph.D. by solving, in less than a year, a math problem that Piranian himself had been unable to solve. Kaczynski's specialty was a branch of complex analysis known as geometric function theory. "I would guess that maybe 10 or 12 people in the country understood or appreciated it," said Maxwell O. Reade, a retired math professor who served on Kaczynski's dissertation committee. In 1967, Kaczynski received a $100 prize recognizing his dissertation, entitled "Boundary Functions", as the school's best in math that year. At Michigan he held a National Science Foundation fellowship, taught undergraduates for three years, and published two articles related to his dissertation in mathematical journals. After he left Michigan, he published four more papers.

Related Topics:
1962 - University of Michigan - Ann Arbor - Complex analysis - Dissertation committee - Dissertation - National Science Foundation - Fellowship

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In the fall of 1967 Kaczynski was hired as an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. Kaczynski's aloofness and reserve made students rate him poorly. Despite the attempt at persuasion by the department staff, Kaczynski resigned without explanation in 1969. Calvin Moore, vice chairman of the department in 1968, said that given Kaczynski's "impressive" thesis and record of publications, "he could have advanced up the ranks and been a senior member of the faculty today."

Related Topics:
1967 - University of California, Berkeley - 1969 - 1968

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After resigning his position at Berkeley, he held no permanent employment. He lived in a remote shack on very little money, occasionally worked odd jobs, and received some financial support from his family. In 1978, he worked briefly with his father and brother at a foam rubber factory.

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