Chris Lydon to deliver Lowell Lecture

Journalist Christopher Lydon will deliver the annual Lowell Lecture, “A Culture Trying to Happen,” on Tuesday (May 7) at 8 p.m. in Science Center C. The Lowell Lecture is devoted to explorations of major issues of our time and is jointly sponsored by the Lowell Institute of Boston and the Harvard University Extension School.

This year’s Lowell lecturer has been a familiar and provocative presence in the field of journalism, both print and broadcast, for more than three decades. He covered presidential politics when serving with the Washington bureau of The New York Times; anchored the “Ten O’Clock News” on WGBH, one of Boston’s PBS channels; and was a creator and host of “The Connection,” a popular public affairs radio show on Boston’s WBUR, from 1994 to 2001.

Lydon was born in Boston in 1940. He graduated from Roxbury Latin School and Yale College. In 1993 he was a candidate for mayor of Boston on the ticket of a citizens’ campaign for radical school reform. Lydon is well known for his informed and incisive conversational style.

Now in its third decade, the Lowell Lecture series has included over the years many distinguished speakers. They include McGeorge Bundy on foreign affairs, Alfred Kahn on inflation, Gloria Steinem on feminism and democracy, Carl Sagan on nuclear winter, Art Buchwald on Washington politics, and Gore Vidal on American politics and religion.

The Lowell Lecture is free and open to the public. The Science Center is located at 1 Oxford St. and is wheelchair accessible. For further information, call the Harvard Extension School at (617) 495-2924.