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Nuno Loureiro

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Nuno Loureiro
Loureiro teaching at MIT in 2023
Born
Nuno Filipe Gomes Loureiro

1977
Viseu, Portugal
Died (aged 47)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Cause of deathGunshot wounds
EducationInstituto Superior Técnico (BS, MEng)
Imperial College London (PhD)
Children3
AwardsPresidential Early Career Award (2025)
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
ThesisStudies of nonlinear tearing mode reconnection (2005)
Websitense.mit.edu/people/nuno-f-loureiro/

Nuno Filipe Gomes Loureiro (1977 – 16 December 2025) was a Portuguese plasma physicist. He was the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center from 2024 until his murder in 2025.

On 15 December 2025, Loureiro was shot at his residence in Brookline, Massachusetts, and died from his injuries the following day. Authorities have connected his murder to Cláudio Manuel Neves Valente, who was the perpetrator of the shooting at Brown University that occurred three days prior to Loureiro's murder.

Early life and education

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Nuno Filipe Gomes Loureiro[1] was born in 1977[2] in Viseu, a city in central Portugal.[2][3][4][5] He graduated from Alves Martins Secondary School.[6] He studied physics at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisbon, graduating in 2000 with an undergraduate and master's degree.[2] Loureiro attended Imperial College London and obtained a doctorate in physics in 2005, with a dissertation on tearing modes in plasma. His early research focused on magnetohydrodynamics and astrophysical plasmas.[7]

Career

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After graduating, Loureiro joined Princeton University as a postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 2005. He left in 2007 to work at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, a laboratory under the UK Atomic Energy Authority, until 2009. He returned to Portugal as a researcher at the Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear at IST Lisbon for seven years.[8]

In 2016, Loureiro joined MIT as a professor and fusion scientist.[9] He studied magnetic reconnection and plasma turbulence using computational simulations and published widely in scientific journals.[10] He became a full professor of physics in 2021 with a joint appointment in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. Loureiro was affiliated with the MIT Energy Initiative and the MIT Kavli Institute, and was a member of the American Physical Society.[2][11]

In 2022, he became deputy director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT's largest lab, and he was appointed full director in May 2024.[2] In January 2025, President Joe Biden presented Loureiro with the Presidential Early Career Award, the highest U.S. government honor for young scientists.[12]

Teaching

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Loureiro was twice recognized with the MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering PAI Outstanding Professor Award for teaching the courses "Intro to Plasma Physics" and "MHD Theory of Fusion Systems".[8]

Murder

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See also: 2025 Brown University shooting

Loureiro was shot in the foyer of the apartment building[13] where he lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, on the evening of 15 December 2025. He was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston with gunshot wounds, where he was pronounced dead early on 16 December. Authorities opened a homicide investigation that received widespread publicity.[14][15][16]

Portugal's Minister of Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel announced his death to the Parliament of Portugal. The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, issued a statement calling his death "an irreplaceable loss for science",[17] and the U.S. ambassador to Portugal released a statement with condolences.[7][18] MIT president Sally Kornbluth published a message to the MIT community, and professors from across the university made public remarks regarding Loureiro's life and work. A vigil was held by his home in Brookline.[19][20]

On 18 December, authorities announced that they were investigating a link between Loureiro's murder and the shooting at Brown University three days prior that killed two and injured nine.[21] Authorities confirmed the link later that day at a press conference announcing the suicide of the lone suspect in the Brown University shooting, Cláudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national.[22] The Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Lab confirmed that one of the firearms found with Valente matched the weapon used in Loureiro's murder.[23] Valente attended the Instituto Superior Técnico with Loureiro from 1995 to 2000, graduating first in his class, ahead of Loureiro.[24] Later that same day, authorities found Valente dead of a self-inflicted gunshot inside a storage unit in New Hampshire.[25]

Personal life

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Loureiro was married and had three children.[26][27] He was an avid participant in local pick-up soccer games.[28]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Loureiro, Nuno Filipe Gomes (2005). "Studies of nonlinear tearing mode reconnection". Imperial College London.
  2. ^ a b c d e Kornbluth, Sally (16 December 2025). "Professor Nuno Loureiro (1977–2025)". Letters to the Community. MIT. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  3. ^ "Nuno Loureiro: Probing the world of plasmas". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  4. ^ "An MIT professor was fatally shot at his home and police launched a homicide investigation". CNN. 16 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  5. ^ Riley, Neal (16 December 2025). "MIT professor Nuno Loureiro killed in shooting at his Brookline, Massachusetts home". CBS News. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  6. ^ Carneiro, Manuela (19 December 2025). "As raízes de Nuno Loureiro, o físico português morto por Cláudio Valente nos EUA" (in Portuguese). SicNoticias. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
  7. ^ a b Levenson, Michael (16 December 2025). "M.I.T. Professor Is Fatally Shot in His Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  8. ^ a b Winn, Zach (16 December 2025). "Nuno Loureiro, professor and director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, dies at 47". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Nuno F. Loureiro". MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  10. ^ "Nuno F. G. Loureiro". MIT Physics. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  11. ^ "Nuno F. G. Loureiro". MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  12. ^ "President Biden Honors Nearly 400 Federally Funded Early-Career Scientists | OSTP". The White House. 14 January 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  13. ^ Schmeiszer, Katarina; MacQuarrie, Brian (17 December 2025). "Colleagues and neighbors reel as investigation continues in Brookline killing of MIT professor". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  14. ^ Saad, Nardine (16 December 2025). "MIT professor from Portugal shot at home dies, police say". BBC News. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  15. ^ "MIT professor killed in shooting at home". NBC News. 16 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  16. ^ "An MIT professor was fatally shot at his home and police launched a homicide investigation". AP News. 16 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  17. ^ "Portuguese physicist Nuno Loureiro fatally shot in Brookline, Massachusetts". Portuguese American Journal. 16 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  18. ^ U.S. Embassy Lisbon [@USEmbPortugal] (16 December 2025). "'I extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Nuno Loureiro, who led MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center. We honor his life, his leadership in science, and his enduring contributions.' U.S. Ambassador to Portugal John J. Arrigo" (Tweet). Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ Casey, Michael (17 December 2025). "Shooting of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro has police searching for a suspect". AP News. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  20. ^ "Loved ones grieve death of MIT professor shot in Brookline home". NBC Boston. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  21. ^ "Police investigate links between Brown shooting and killing of MIT professor". The Guardian. AP. 18 December 2025. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  22. ^ Molot, Clara (19 December 2025). "Police Identify Person of Interest in Brown–MIT Shootings". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  23. ^ Sullivan, Paul Edward Parker and Lynne. "How DNA and ballistics tie Claudio Neves Valente to Brown, MIT shootings". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  24. ^ "Suspected Killer of M.I.T. Professor Studied With Victim, Graduating Top of Their Class". New York Times. 19 December 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  25. ^ Luscombe, Richard; Bekiempis, Victoria (19 December 2025). "Brown University shooting suspect died from self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials say". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 December 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  26. ^ de Jesus, André (16 December 2025). "Físico português que dirigia laboratório no MIT morto a tiro nos EUA" [Portuguese physicist who ran a laboratory at MIT shot dead in the US]. SIC Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  27. ^ "Nuno Loureiro: MIT professor from Portugal shot at home dies, police say". BBC News. 17 December 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  28. ^ MacQuarrie, Brian; Crimaldi, Laura (18 December 2025). "MIT professor killed in Brookline, known as brilliant scientist, unassuming neighbor". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  29. ^ "PECASE Recipient". U.S. National Science Foundation. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  30. ^ "Center for Nonlinear Studies: Stanislaw M. Ulam Distinguished Scholar award". Los Alamos National Laboratory. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  31. ^ "School of Engineering Awards for 2022". MIT Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  32. ^ "20218 MIT Bose Fellows Grants to Support Research into Frontier Discovery". MIT. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  33. ^ "APS Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics recipients". APS. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
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  • Media related to Nuno Loureiro at Wikimedia Commons
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