But classmates said Kaczynski did horse around, albeit with chemicals, not toys: "We would go to the hardware store, use household products and make these things you might call bombs," junior high classmate Dale Eickelman told the Daily Southtown, an Illinois newspaper, in 1996. "Once we created an explosion in a metal garbage can."While other young people listened to rock 'n' roll, Ted preferred classical music by Vivaldi and Bach that "had mathematical perfection and symmetry," his brother, David, said in a January 1997 interview. "I can't ever recall him singing songs or listening to lyrics.
Education: Skipped two grades, graduating from high school in 1958 at the age of 16; earned bachelor's from Harvard University in 1962. Earned master's and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.Professors have recalled Kaczynski as a brilliant graduate student able to solve complicated equations that stumped other math experts. Socially, he was a loner.
Career: Hired as an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, on a two-year contract that started in the fall of 1967. Resigned without explanation in 1969.
"He said he was going to give up mathematics and wasn't sure what he was going to do," John W. Addison, then department chair, wrote in 1970 to Kaczynski's dissertation adviser at the University of Michigan. "He was very calm and relaxed about it on the outside. We tried to persuade him to reconsider, but our presentation had no apparent effect."
Addison called Kaczynski "almost pathologically shy," a man who had made no close friends in the department.
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."
In a financial affidavit filed June 25, 1996, Kaczynski reported that he was unemployed, having last worked in 1979, when he earned $760 per month.
Published: Papers with such daunting titles as "Boundary Functions and Sets of Curvilinear Convergence for Continuous Functions" in prestigious math journals.
Life in Montana: With his brother, David, bought land in Lincoln, Mont., in 1971. Lived in a 10-by-12-foot ramshackle cabin he'd built himself with no electricity or running water. Mostly unemployed, surviving on a few hundred dollars a year, chopped wood for heat, hunted deer, food from his garden and cans of Spam and tuna. Rode a bike for transportation, sometimes dressed in overalls and a straw hat; in the winter used chains on his bicycle tires for traction or hitched a ride with a mail truck.
Teresa Brown, a sales clerk at Garland's Town & Country store in the heart of Lincoln, described him as being "polite, shy, very nice."
"Someone you'd never suspect, I guess, she said. "He was always alone. ... I didn't think he had any friends. I don't even think he had a job, just a little lonely hermit up there."
Occasionally, he would visit with Carol Blowars, a real estate broker who lived a quarter-mile away, and bring gifts to her and her husband, George. "He talked about his garden," Blowars said. "He brought all kinds of things, carrots and spinach."
"He was very highly educated, way beyond a level of anything I would read," said Linda Bordeleau, a librarian's assistant. "He read literary works. A lot of the books he wanted had to be ordered because they were extremely intellectual works. He would bring back his books and I would ask him: You can read and understand this stuff? I couldn't."
Communications: Instructed family members to draw a red line under the stamp if a letter contained urgent information. Such a letter came in 1990, after his father's suicide. Kaczynski reportedly was upset because he felt the note didn't warrant the urgent symbol. After his brother's marriage in July 1990, Kaczynski wrote his brother a venomous letter stating, in capital letters, that he never wanted to see or hear from David or any other member of the Kaczynski family again. He has refused any contact with his mother or brother since his arrest.
Unrequited romance: Smitten with Ellen Tarmichael, a supervisor at a foam-rubber plant in Addison, Ill., where he worked while living with his family briefly in 1978. The two saw each other a few times socially before Tarmichael, who has since said there was no romance between the two, told Kaczynski that she no longer wanted to see him. Kaczynski made rude comments about Tarmichael at work and wrote rude limericks, which he hung around the plant until his supervisor — his brother, David — fired him. Kaczynski worked another job before moving back to Montana in 1979.
Residence: Curiously, since 1982, listed in Harvard's alumni directory as Afghanistan. Now confined to a Sacramento County jail cell with a toilet, sink, running water and electric lights — comforts not found in his Montana cabin.Recognition: Named on of the 25 Most Intriguing People of 1996 by People magazine.
Family: His terminally ill father, also named Theodore, committed suicide in 1990. His mother, Wanda, now lives in New York. Both were warm and nurturing "talkers," who while their sons were growing up spoke often of the value of education and of the need to do what is right. "They weren't rigid disciplinarians and by and large I don't think they needed to be," David Kaczynski has said. "Neither of their children ever created problems in the community or problems in school."
Pleaded guilty: Jan. 22, 1998, in exchange for life in prison with no chance for parole; will be formally sentenced May 15, 1998.
On the plea bargain: "We feel it is the appropriate, just and civilized resolution to this tragedy, in light of Ted's diagnosed mental illness," his brother, David Kaczynski, said.
Infamous person. Born on May 22, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in Chicago, the oldest child of a Polish American couple, Wanda and Theodore. As a baby, Kaczynski had an allergic reaction to some medication and spent time in isolation, recovering. Some reports indicate that he had a noticeable change in his personality after being hospitalized. The arrival of his younger brother David also allegedly had a strong effect on him as well.
Both of Kaczynski's parents pushed him hard to achieve academic success. A bright child, Kaczynski skipped two grades during his early education. He was smaller than the other kids and regarded as "different" because of his intelligence. Still Kaczynski was active in school groups, including the German language and chess clubs. In 1958, Kaczynski entered Harvard University at the age of 16 on a scholarship. There he studied mathematics and participated in a psychological experiment conducted by professor Henry A. Murray.
After graduating Harvard in 1962, Kaczynski continued his studies at the University of Michigan. While there, he taught classes and worked on his dissertation, which was widely praised. Kaczynski earned his doctoral degree from the university in 1967, then moved west to teach at the University of California Berkeley.
Kaczynski struggled at Berkeley, having a hard time delivering his lectures and often avoiding contact with his students. He resigned his assistant professorship in 1969. By the early 1970s, Kaczynski had given up his old life, and settled in Montana. He built himself a small cabin near Lincoln, where he lived in near total isolation. He hunted rabbits, grew vegetables, and spent a lot of time reading. Over the years, he developed his own anti-government and anti-technology philosophy.
In 1978, Kaczynski moved back to Chicago to work in the same factory as his brother. He had a relationship with a female supervisor that turned sour. In retaliation, Kaczynski wrote crude limericks about her, which got him fired. His brother David, a supervisor himself, was the one that actually had to break the news to Ted.
That same year, Kaczynski made his first homemade bomb, which he sent to a Northwestern University professor. The letter was opened by a campus security officer, who sustained minor injuries when the bomb exploded. Another bomb was sent to the same university the following year, but by this time Kaczynski had returned to Montana.
Kaczynski then targeted American Airlines with two bombs—one in 1979 and one in 1980—addressed to the company's president. Working with the U.S. Postal Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation started up a task force to look into these mysterious attacks. The case was known by the acronym UNABOM, which stood for UNiversity and Airline BOMbing. Eventually the unknown assailant received the nickname "The Unabomber."
By 1982, his bombs became more destructive. A secretary at Vanderbilt University and a professor at University of California Berkeley both sustained serious injuries from Kaczynski's explosive packages. His first fatality occurred in 1985, when a computer store owner was killed by a bomb outside his shop. The Unabomber then killed two more people before his capture in 1996. In all, he killed three people and wounded 22 others.
Ted Kaczynski was an American terrorist who used his crimes to draw attention to his political views. His campaign to fight what he believed was the evil of technological progress was waged with bombs he delivered or mailed to sixteen different places across the country. Over a period of eighteen years, Kaczynski killed three people and wounded twenty-three others with his bomb devices. His primary targets were people he associated with computers and other high-tech industries.
Kaczynski believed that modern industrial civilization was destroying nature, alienating humans from one another, and manipulating people's minds and attitudes. In his writings, which became commonly known as the "Unabomber Manifesto," Kaczynski argued for the destruction of the industrial system in order to rid the world of modern technology and free.
Who is Theodore Kaczynski?
This man was born in Chicago Illinois on May 22, 1942. As an infant, he developed allergic reactions to some medicines thus causing him to be in the hospital for a few weeks. As a result, he became a cry baby and even withdrew himself from other members of the family. Despite that, he was given all the attention he needed.
His mother noticed that even as a child, Ted is a gifted individual. There are several facets of his life that proved that. First, when he was 10, he took an IQ test and garnered a score of 170. Second, he finished high school in only two years. Third, he pursued his love for mathematics through no less than Harvard University.
His intellectual capabilities overshadowed his socializing skills. Many people observed he was the shy type, often walking pass a crowd without even greeting them. He concentrated more on his studies and never had a time to play with others. Because of these instances, people thought he had a mild case of autism known as Asperger's Syndrome.
He was subjected to several psychological experiments together with other students of Dr. Henry Murray. This mind control test was all about how people cope with their studies with stressful conditions.
Ted's life after his studies
Ted decided to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan right after he graduated from Harvard in 1962. In this new place, he took up both his Master's and Ph.D. degrees. After finishing all these degrees, he focused on the study of Complex Analysis (with a specialization in the field of Geometric Function Theory). His dissertation paper earned an award in 1967.
During the later part of that year, Ted decided to transfer to California. He landed a job as an assistant professor in mathematics in the University of California. But since he is anti-social, so to speak, students were quite adamant to approach him thus causing him to have poor reviews during his stay in the university. He then resigned in 1969 despite the support given to him by his co-professors.
Living a life of a hermit
After leaving the university, he decided to live in a small shack. He had nothing to support himself except going for random jobs and asking financial aid from his family.
It was in 1978 when a sudden turn of events happened in Ted's life. He filled in a package of explosives and left it at the University of Illinois with the sender's name "Professor Buckley Crist". The package was sent back to the supposed addressee. But since Crist knew he did not send any package, he opened it up and the explosive caused minor injuries on him.
The Unabomber issue
From that simple package, Ted never stopped sending explosive packages to airline officials. In fact, he planted one on a cargo plane in 1979. The bomb was easily detected and during the investigation, the FBI called their suspect the "Unabomber". It was John Douglas, an FBI agent who supposed the bomb was made by an academic individual. But his claims were rejected thus no fingers were able to point out to Ted Kaczynski.
He continued sending the bombs (having an "FC" or Freedom Club inscription) with the first serious injury caused in 1985. He stopped what he was doing in 1987. But, in 1993 he started sending out these explosive packages again. From then on, more fatal bombs were sent to various individuals.
It was in 1995 when he sent mails to his victims and demanded that his 35,000-page "Unabomber Manifesto" be published in various newspapers. The Washington Post and New York Times published the same for the public's safety.
Ted's brother recognized the handwriting and reported the incident to the FBI. Forensic linguists investigated on the matter with the help of Ted's family members. It was in April 3, 1996 when Ted was arrested and nearly two years later, in January 22, 1998, Ted pleaded guilty.
Theodore John Kaczynski was born on May 22, 1942, is a Polish-American terrorist who attempted to fight against what he perceived as the evils of technological progress by engaging in an almost eighteen-year-long campaign of sending mail bombs to various people, killing three and wounding 29. Before his identity was known, the FBI referred to him as the UNABOM (from “university and airline bomber”). Variants of the codename appeared when the media started using the codename, including Unabomer, Unabomber, and Unibomber.
Early life, education and career
Born in Chicago, Ted Kaczynski was extremely 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 allowed infrequent visits from his parents, during which they could not hold 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.”
Friends and neighbors have said that the boy’s intellectual gifts were apparent, but 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.”
He skipped two grades, graduating from high school in 1958 at the age of 16. Afterwards, he earned a bachelor’s from Harvard University in mathematics in 1962 but did not particularly distinguish himself there. After graduation, he attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, earning a master’s and a Ph.D. in mathematics.
Kaczynski began a successful research career at Michigan, though he continued to make few friends. His early career was ultimately the basis of his popular image as an evil mathematical genius. This conclusion should be treated with caution, not only because many scientists and mathematicians are popularly portrayed as geniuses, but also because mutual admiration is a common academic habit. For example, one of his professors at Michigan, George Piranian, said, “It is not enough to say he was smart.” This can be read as an allusion to the fact that Kaczynski, in his Ph.D. work, solved an open problem that had frustrated Piranian.
Kaczynski’s speciality was a branch of complex analysis known as geometric function theory. His ideas in this area were original and formidable, but they were also obscure. “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.
Kaczynski was hired as an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, in the fall of 1967. Against the persuasion of 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.”
After resigning his position at Berkeley, he did not hold permanent employment. He lived in a remote shack on very little money, occasionally worked odd jobs, and received some financial support from his family.
The bombings
The first mail bomb was sent in late May 1978 to Prof. Buckley Crist at Northwestern University. The package was found in a parking lot at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with Prof. Crist’s return address (and a send to address of Prof. E.J. Smith at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York state). The package was sent ‘back’ to Crist. Suspicious of a package he never sent, Crist notified campus police. A campus police officer by the name of Terry Marker opened the package, and it exploded; Marker sustained minor injuries.
The initial 1978 bombing was followed by bombs to airline officials and bombs designed to explode on airplanes. Initially, the bombs were of amateur quality and did not cause much harm.
The first serious injury occurred in 1985, when a Berkeley graduate student lost four fingers and vision in one eye. The bombs were all hand crafted and carried the inscription “FC” – at one point reported to stand for “Fuck Computers,” but later found to mean “Freedom Club.” A Californian computer store owner was killed by a nail and splinter loaded bomb lying in his parking lot in 1985. A similar attack against a computer store occurred in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 20, 1987.
After a six-year break, Kaczynski struck again in 1993, mailing a bomb to David Gelernter, a computer science professor at Yale University and developer of Linda, a distributed programming system. Gelernter has written a book on the subject, Drawing Life: Surviving the Unabomber. Another bomb in the same year maimed the geneticist Charles Epstein. Kaczynski wrote a letter to The New York Times claiming that his “anarchist group” called FC was responsible for the attacks.
In 1994, an advertising executive was killed by another mail bomb. In a letter, Kaczynski justified the killing by pointing out that the public relations field is in the business of developing techniques for manipulating people’s attitudes. This was followed by the murder of California Forestry Association president Gilbert Murray in 1995.
The manifesto
In 1995, Kaczynski mailed several letters, some to his former victims, outlining his goals and demanding that his paper Industrial Society and Its Future (commonly called the “Unabomber Manifesto”), be printed verbatim by a major newspaper; he stated that he would then end his bombing campaign. After a great deal of controversy, the pamphlet was indeed published by the New York Times and the Washington Post in September 1995, with the hope that somebody would recognize his writing style (as indeed happened; see below).
The main argument of Industrial Society and Its Future is that technological progress is undesirable, can be stopped, and in fact should be stopped in order to free people from the unnatural demands of technology, so that they can return to a happier, simpler life close to nature. Kaczynski argued that it was necessary to cause a “social crash”, before society became any worse. He believes a collapse of civilization is likely to occur at some point in the future; thus, it is better to end things now, rather than later. If it does not occur, he says, humans will have the freedom and significance of house pets, although they may be happy, in a society dominated by machines or an elite social class.
Its critique of technological society makes the manifesto a neo-Luddite tract, sharing some ideas with other contemporary anti-technological writers (though its scope is broad, as Kaczynski also devoted large sections to railing at “leftists” and “oversocialized types”). The stigma of its author’s criminal acts has limited its popularity as a source in discussions of technology, but Bill Joy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, quoted it in his April 2000 Wired magazine article on the dangers of technology, “Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us”, as an example of dystopian concerns that deserved a response. Selective quotation from the manifesto has been used to attack more mainstream environmentalists by painting them as similar to Kaczynski, as in 1999 when a widely publicized Web page compared statements by Kaczynski with Al Gore’s book Earth in the Balance.
Apprehension and trial
Kaczynski’s younger brother David recognized Ted’s writing style from the published manifesto and notified authorities, who sent officers to arrest Kaczynski on April 3, 1996 at his remote cabin outside Lincoln, Montana. David Kaczynski had once admired and emulated his elder brother but had later decided to leave the survivalist lifestyle behind and become an ‘everyman’. David had received assurances from the FBI that he would remain anonymous and that in particular his brother would not learn who had turned him in, but his identity was later leaked – prompting an unsuccessful internal investigation by the FBI.
In addition, the family received guarantees, which were later betrayed, that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty against Ted. David donated the reward money – less his legal expenses – to families of his brother’s victims. A professor of English noticed that the Manifesto resembled the outlook of the protagonist Verloc from Joseph Conrad’s novel The Secret Agent. It was discovered that Kaczynski grew up with a copy of the book in his home.
Kaczynski’s lawyers attempted an insanity defense, which he rejected; a court-appointed psychiatrist diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia but declared him competent to stand trial. Kaczynski avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty on January 22, 1998. He later attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, arguing it was involuntary. Judge Garland Burrell denied his request, and that denial was affirmed by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. As of 2004, Kaczynski was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the Federal ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
