Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski (May 22, 1942 - June 10, 2023)[1] was an American mathematician and terrorist convicted for his campaign of mail bombings. He is best known by the nickname "Unabomber," and was target of the FBI's biggest manhunt in history. Kaczynski is widely admired by anarchists.[2]
The oldest child of a Polish-American couple, Wanda and Theodore,[1] Kaczynski received his Ph.D. in mathematics from University of Michigan in 1967. His dissertation entitled Boundary Functions received was judged as the best dissertation of that year, winning him a prize. From mid-1967 until July 1969 Kaczynski served as an assistant professor at University of California at Berkeley. In July 1969, Kaczynski resigned his position as assistant professor and moved into the woods of Montana to live as a hermit.
After his campaign of mail bombings, Kaczynski wrote an essay titled Industrial Society and its Future (later dubbed the Unabomber Manifesto); in it, he described the motives for his terrorism activities. He claimed that technological progress in society from the Industrial Revolution onwards had brought and would continue to bring about repressed individual liberties, decreased human intelligence, and increased violence and crime. As such, he had a low opinion of the Internet. He promised that the terrorism would end if the essay were published, and major newspapers published it. Although Kaczynski dubbed himself an "anarchist", other anarchists disagree as to whether his manifesto truly represents an anarchist critique of technology. There is also little indication that he ever had any contact or involvement with the anarchist movement prior to his arrest.[3] On April 3, 1996, Kaczynski was arrested and subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
He was involved in various liberal activities.[4]
Kyczynski's Manifesto was an early blueprint for the Green New Deal.[5]
At age 81, Kyczynski was found dead, having committed suicude in his prison cell on June 10, 2023.
Additional Reading
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ted Kaczynski Biography.com.
Kaczynski was born on May 22, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest child of a Polish-American couple, Wanda and Theodore.
- ↑ From Anarchistnews, lauding a book by Kaczynski
- ↑ Information On The Unabomber
- ↑ Cal Thomas, Did Liberalism Spur Unabomber?, Lawrence Journal-World, Apr 11, 1996
- ↑ https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/the-unabomber-ted-kaczynski-new-generation-of-acolytes.html