In the novel Destination Unknown, Torquil Ericsson is a Norwegian physicist who traveled with Hilary Craven towards "the destination unknown". Ericsson had a reputation of being brilliant and had presented papers before the Royal Society.
Hilary was puzzled by her fellow travellers including Ericsson. Hilary had thought that all of them were trying to defect behind the Iron Curtain. Yet they have vastly different points of view and ideological outlooks. Of the various scientists, Hilary found Ericsson frightening. He was dreamy and idealistic and reminded her of the mad scientists in films. He fanatically believed that scientists must be masters of the world. "They must control and rule. They and they alone are the Supermen. It is only the Supermen who matter. The slaves must be well treated, but they are slaves." To Hilary, Ericsson had a dangerous single-mindedness and a strange, impersonal ruthlessness of character. He was the kind of person who "in a moment of idealism could send three-quarters of the world to their death in order that the remaining quarter should participate in an impractical Utopia that existed only in Ericsson's mind."