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<div>Just wanted to drop everyone a line and invite you to this
lecture by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times on Monday, May 16.
Please invite people in your departments. The event is free and open
to the entire MIT Community.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Hope to see you there!</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Thanks!</div>
<div>Jon Paul Potts</div>
<div>MIT OCW Communications Manager</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<hr>
<div><font size="+1"><b>THREE-TIME PULITZER PRIZE WINNER THOMAS
FRIEDMAN</b></font></div>
<div><font size="+1"><b>TO SPEAK AT MIT ON MONDAY, MAY
16</b></font><b><br>
<br>
New York Times<i> Foreign Affairs Columnist and author to discuss
globalization<br>
and the digital revolution, will sign copies of his new book</i> The
World is Flat</b><br>
</div>
<div><b>CAMBRIDGE, MASS.</b> (April 28, 2005) - Pulitzer
Prize-winning New York Times columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman
will speak at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday, May
16, 2005. Friedman's lecture, "The World is Flat," is open to the
public and will begin at 4 pm in Room 10-250 in the center of MIT's
campus. Friedman's lecture will be immediately followed by a reception
and signing of his new book,<i> The World is Flat: A Brief History of
the Twenty-First Century</i>.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Friedman's speech will focus on the world as it stands today in
the age of globalization, and the convergence of technology that has
allowed India, China, and so many other countries to become part of
the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an
explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest
nations and giving them a huge new stake in the success of
globalization. And, Friedman will ask, with this "flattening" of
the globe, which requires us to run faster in order to stay in place,
has the world gotten too small and too fast for human beings and their
political systems to adjust in a stable manner?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>MIT President Emeritus Charles M. Vest will introduce Friedman in
this lecture that is open to the general public. The reception and
book signing will be held in MIT's Bush Room, Room 10-105. Copies
of<i> The World is Flat</i> (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 2005)
will be available for purchase. This event is sponsored by the MIT
OpenCourseWare project (online at<u> http://ocw.mit.edu</u>).<br>
<br>
Friedman is the foreign affairs columnist for<i> The New York
Times</i>, for which he won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. He
also was awarded Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting in 1983
and 1988.<br>
<br>
A world-renowned author and journalist, Friedman joined<i> The New
York Times</i> in 1981 as a financial reporter specializing in OPEC
and oil-related news and later served as the Chief Diplomatic, Chief
White House, and International Economics Correspondents. He has
traveled hundreds of thousands of miles reporting the Middle East
conflict, the end of the Cold War, U.S. domestic politics and foreign
policy, international economics, and the worldwide impact of the
terrorist threat. His Foreign Affairs Column, which appears twice a
week in<i> The New York Times,</i> is syndicated to 700 newspapers
worldwide.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>In addition to his new book, Friedman is also the author of<i>
>From Beirut to Jerusalem</i>, which won both the National Book and the
Overseas Press Club Awards in 1989 and was on<i> The New York
Times</i> "Bestseller List" for nearly 12 months.<i> Beirut</i>
has been published in more than 20 languages, including Chinese and
Japanese, and is now used as a basic textbook on the Middle East in
many high schools and universities. Friedman also wrote<i> The Lexus
and the Olive Tree</i>, one of the best-selling business books of
1999, and the winner of the 2000 Overseas Press Club Award for best
non-fiction book on foreign policy.<i> Lexus</i> is now out in 27
languages<i>. Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After
September 11,</i> issued in 2002, consists of columns Friedman
published about September 11, as well as a diary of his private
experiences and reflections during his reporting on the post-September
world as he traveled from Afghanistan to Israel to Europe to Indonesia
to Saudi Arabia.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Friedman graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University with
a degree in Mediterranean Studies and received a masters degree in
Modern Middle East Studies from Oxford. He has served as a visiting
professor at Harvard University and has been awarded honorary degrees
from several U.S. universities. He lives in Bethesda, MD, with his
wife, Ann, and their two daughters.</div>
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