Israeli officials are reportedly investigating a possible Iranian connection to the murder of senior MIT nuclear scientist Prof. Nuno F. G. Loureiro, who was reportedly shot at his home on Monday evening by unknown assailants and died in the hospital a few hours later. Professor Loureiro, 47, was the director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), whose faculty he joined in 2016. He was born and raised in Portugal, earning an undergraduate degree from the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon and a Ph.D. from Imperial College in London, then spending several years at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion in Lisbon before moving to the United States.
“Professor Loureiro distinguished himself by his intellectual rigor, his tireless dedication to science, and the significant contributions he made to the field of physics. His premature death is an irreplaceable loss for science and for all who worked and collaborated with him,” Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said in his message of condolences for Loureiro’s death. Loureiro was a highly respected theoretical physicist who did landmark research into plasma dynamics, with applications ranging from the study of solar flares to the creation of fusion energy reactors. He admired the “peerless intellectual caliber of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT” and said he enjoyed teaching there, as well as conducting cutting-edge research.
