MIT professor found dead; police open homicide investigation

Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Law enforcement officials announced Tuesday they had opened a homicide investigation after Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was found dead in his home from apparent gunshot wounds the previous day.

Loureiro was a theoretical physicist and fusion scientist who served as director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT, according to an article published by the news service of the Cambridge, Mass-based research university.

The Norfolk District Attorney's Office said in a statement that police found Loureiro, 47, dead in his home in Brookline after receiving a report of a shooting. Loureiro was taken to a hospital and was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning.

The prosecutor's office stated in the post that the case is "an active and ongoing homicide investigation" and offered no further information.

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The shooting took place the same day a gunman opened fire on students at Brown University, killing two and leaving nine other people injured.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a statement that Nuno's death is a "shocking loss" and "comes in a period of disturbing violence in many other places."

"Nuno was not only an extraordinary scientist and educator, but also a tremendous colleague, mentor, and friend who cared deeply about his students and his community," Benoit Forget, head of MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, wrote in an email to the department, according to the news article.

"His absence will be felt profoundly across NSE and far beyond," Forget said.

Growing up in a small city in central Portugal, Loureiro knew early on he wanted to be a scientist even as his peers aspired to be policemen or firefighters, according to a 2018 profile by the university's news service. He joined MIT in 2016 and was later selected to lead the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one the university's largest labs.

Portugal's foreign minister announced his death in the country's Parliament, CNN reported. U.S. Ambassador to Portugal John J. Arrigo also issued a statement mourning his death.