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Richard Rogers, British Architect Behind Pompidou Center, Dies Aged 88

British architect Richard Rogers (L) designed the Pompidou Center, which opened in 1977, with Renzo Piano (R). Martin BUREAU AFP/File
British architect Richard Rogers (L) designed the Pompidou Center, which opened in 1977, with Renzo Piano (R). Martin BUREAU AFP/File
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Richard Rogers, British Architect Behind Pompidou Center, Dies Aged 88

British architect Richard Rogers (L) designed the Pompidou Center, which opened in 1977, with Renzo Piano (R). Martin BUREAU AFP/File
British architect Richard Rogers (L) designed the Pompidou Center, which opened in 1977, with Renzo Piano (R). Martin BUREAU AFP/File

British architect Richard Rogers, known for designing some of the world's most famous buildings including Paris' Pompidou Centre, has died aged 88, according to media reports.

Rogers, who changed the London skyline with distinctive creations such as the Millennium Dome and the 'Cheesegrater', "passed away quietly" Saturday night, Freud communications agency's Matthew Freud told the Press Association.

His son Roo Rogers also confirmed his death to the New York Times, but did not give the cause, AFP said.

The Italian-born architect won a series of awards for his designs, including the 2007 Pritzker Prize, and is one of the pioneers of the "high-tech" architecture movement, distinguished by structures incorporating industrial materials such as glass and steel.

He is the co-creator of France's Pompidou Centre -- opened in 1977 and famed for its multi-colored, pipe-covered façade -- which he designed with Italian architect Renzo Piano.

Rogers' other well-known designs include Strasbourg's European Court of Human Rights and the Three World Trade Centre in New York, as well as international airport terminals in Madrid and London's Heathrow.

Born in Florence in 1933, his father was a doctor, his mother a former pupil of the famed Irish writer James Joyce. The family fled the dictatorship of Mussolini, settling in England in 1938.

He left school in 1951 with no qualifications but managed to gain entry into London's Architectural Association School, known for its modernism.

He completed his architecture studies at Yale in the United States in 1962, where he met fellow British architect Norman Foster.

Although buildings were Rogers' world, he insisted it was the space around them that was key in defining those that worked.

"The two can't be judged apart," he told The Guardian in 2017.

"The Twin Towers in New York, for instance. They weren't great buildings, but the space between them was."

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Scientists Uncover Ancient Insect Preserved in Amber that Snatched its Prey

This illustration provided by Xiaoran Zuo in March 2025 depicts an ancient parasitic wasp found in Myanmar that may have seized prey with its Venus flytrap-like back end. (Xiaoran Zuo via AP)
This illustration provided by Xiaoran Zuo in March 2025 depicts an ancient parasitic wasp found in Myanmar that may have seized prey with its Venus flytrap-like back end. (Xiaoran Zuo via AP)
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Scientists Uncover Ancient Insect Preserved in Amber that Snatched its Prey

This illustration provided by Xiaoran Zuo in March 2025 depicts an ancient parasitic wasp found in Myanmar that may have seized prey with its Venus flytrap-like back end. (Xiaoran Zuo via AP)
This illustration provided by Xiaoran Zuo in March 2025 depicts an ancient parasitic wasp found in Myanmar that may have seized prey with its Venus flytrap-like back end. (Xiaoran Zuo via AP)

An ancient wasp may have zipped among the dinosaurs, with a body like a Venus flytrap to seize and snatch its prey, scientists reported Wednesday.
The parasitic wasp's abdomen boasts a set of flappy paddles lined with thin bristles, resembling “a small bear trap attached to the end of it,” said study co-author Lars Vilhelmsen from the Natural History Museum of Denmark.
Scientists uncovered over a dozen female wasps preserved in 99-million-year-old amber from the Kachin region in northern Myanmar, The Associated Press reported. The wasp’s flaps and teeth-like hairs resemble the structure of the carnivorous Venus flytrap plant, which snaps shut to digest unsuspecting insects. But the design of the wasp's getup made scientists think its trap was designed to cushion, not crush.
Instead, researchers suggested the flytrap-like structure was used to hold a wriggly insect still while the wasp laid an egg, depositing a baby wasp to feed on and drain its new host.
It's a playbook adapted by many parasitic wasps, including modern-day cuckoo and bethylid wasps, to exploit insects. But no known wasp or any other insect does so with bizarre flaps quite like this one.
“I've seen a lot of strange insects, but this has to be one of the most peculiar-looking ones I've seen in a while,” said entomologist Lynn Kimsey from the University of California, Davis, who was not involved with the research.
Scientists named the new wasp Sirenobethylus charybdis, partly for the sea monster from Greek mythology that stirred up wild whirlpools by swallowing and expelling water.
The new study was published in the journal BMC Biology and included researchers from Capital Normal University and the Beijing Xiachong Amber Museum in China.
It's unclear when the wasp went extinct. Studying unusual insects like this one can help scientists understand what insects are capable of and how different they can be.
“We tend to think that the cool things are only found today," said Gabriel Melo, a wasp expert at the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil, who had no role in the study. "But when we have this opportunity, we see that many really exceptional, odd things already happened.”