Authorities are searching for a suspect in the death of Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a prominent MIT physics professor who was shot to death in his home near Boston. Loureiro, a 47-year-old married man from Portugal, was shot Monday night and died Tuesday at a local hospital.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said authorities have not yet revealed a possible motive and no suspects were in custody as of Wednesday morning.
The shooting in Brookline, Massachusetts, came days after a deadly attack at Brown University, another prestigious school in the area, and police have not yet identified a suspect who killed two students and wounded nine others. The FBI said it was not aware of any connection between the two crimes.
Looking for solutions to the world’s problems
Loureiro joined MIT in 2016 and was appointed last year to lead the Center for Plasma Science and Fusion, one of the school’s largest laboratories. The center has about 250 researchers spread across seven buildings focused on advancing clean energy technologies and other research.
The professor grew up in Viseu, central Portugal, studied in Lisbon and earned his PhD in London, according to the university. Before attending MIT, he worked at a nuclear fusion research institute in Lisbon.
Loureiro studies the behavior of plasma and works to explain the physics behind astronomical phenomena such as solar flares. According to his obituary on the MIT News website, his research “involved the design of fusion devices that could harness the energy of fusion plasmas, bringing the dream of clean, nearly unlimited fusion energy closer to reality.”
“It’s no exaggeration to say that MIT is the place to find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems,” Loureiro told the school’s news site when he became director of the plasma lab. “Fusion energy will change the course of human history.”
Loureiro’s death is sad and shocking
“He shone brightly as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader and was universally admired for his eloquent, compassionate approach,” Dennis Whyte, an engineering professor who previously directed MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, told the campus publication.
Deepto Chakrabarty, the William A. M. Burden Professor of Astrophysics and chair of the Department of Physics, called him “a champion of plasma physics,” a valuable colleague and an inspiring graduate student mentor.
“Our community has suffered a shocking loss at a time when disturbing violence has occurred in many other places,” said MIT President Sally Kornbluth.
The Office of the Portuguese President also issued a statement of condolence, calling Loureiro’s death “an irreparable loss to science and to all those who worked and lived with him.”
Killings occur during search for suspect in Brown shooting
The investigation into Loureiro’s killing is ongoing as Brown University, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Providence, Rhode Island, continues to be reeling from Saturday’s campus shooting. As the search for the suspect entered its fifth day Wednesday, authorities urged the public to review security or cellphone footage from the week before the attack, saying they believed the gunman may have carried out attacks in the area beforehand.