What to know about MIT professor Nuno Loureiro and the investigation into his shooting

Authorities are searching for a suspect in the killing of Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a prominent physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was shot at his home near Boston. Loureiro, a married 47-year-old from Portugal, was shot Monday night and died Tuesday at a local hospital.

Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive, and no suspects were in custody as of Wednesday morning, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said.

The shooting in Brookline, Massachusetts, comes days after a deadly attack at another prestigious school in the region, Brown University, where police also haven’t identified the suspect who killed two students and wounded nine others. The FBI said it knows of no connection between the two crimes.

Finding solutions to the world’s problems

Loureiro joined MIT in 2016 and was named last year to lead the school’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of its largest laboratories. The center has around 250 researchers working across seven buildings and focuses on advancing clean energy technology and other research.

The professor grew up in Viseu in central Portugal, studied in Lisbon and earned a doctorate in London, according to the university. Before moving to MIT, he worked at a nuclear fusion research institute in Lisbon.

Loureiro studied the behavior of plasma and worked to explain the physics behind astronomical phenomena such as solar flares. His research, according to his obituary on MIT’s news site, “involved the design of fusion devices that could harness the energy of fusing plasmas, bringing the dream of clean, near-limitless fusion power closer to reality.”

“It’s not hyperbole to say MIT is where you go to find solutions to humanity’s biggest problems,” Loureiro told the school’s news site when he became head of the plasma lab. “Fusion energy will change the course of human history.”

Sadness and shock over Loureiro’s death

“He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader, and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner,” Dennis Whyte, an engineering professor who previously led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, told a campus publication.

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Deepto Chakrabarty, the William A. M. Burden professor in astrophysics and head of the Department of Physics, described him as a “champion for plasma physics,” a valued colleague and an inspiring mentor to graduate students.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth said the “shocking loss for our community comes in a period of disturbing violence in many other places.”

The Portuguese president’s office also put out a condolence statement calling Loureiro’s death “an irreparable loss for science and for all those with whom he worked and lived.”

Killing comes amid search for Brown shooting suspect

The investigation into Loureiro’s killing unfolds as Brown University, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away in Providence, Rhode Island, continues to reel 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 believe the gunman may have cased the area beforehand.