/sci/ - Science & Math

Graduate student Harriet Hungate took Kaczynski’s topology class. He impressed her.

“He was this young guy, tall and good looking, and had all the outward manifestations of someone who would be very sociable,” she said.

Hungate needed someone to talk to. She was in crisis, thinking of dropping out, “hanging in there by the skin of my teeth.”

She went to Kaczynski’s office for a conference. She asked questions about the course, but then her emotions took over. She spilled out her fears and doubts, looking to her professor for warmth and reassurance.

His response chilled her. Kaczynski didn’t acknowledge she had spoken.

“There was no reaction at all,” Hungate said. “Usually there’s a person in there who responds to what is said, but I looked in his eyes, and I saw no person there.”