Theodore Kaczynski

Kaczynski's Mugshot

Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski (May 22, 1942 - June 10, 2023) was a mathematician and a convicted terrorist 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.

Ted Kaczynski, the oldest child of a Polish-American couple, Wanda and Theodore, had 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 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.

He was involved in various liberal activities.

Kyczynski's Manifesto was an early blueprint for the Green New Deal.

Kyczynski was found dead in his prison cell on June 10, 2023. He was 81 years old.

Additional Reading

• Kaczynski's manifesto, "Industrial Society and its Future"