Nuno Filipe Gomes Loureiro

Nuno Filipe Gomes Loureiro 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.

Loureiro was born in Viseu, a city in central Portugal, in 1977.

He studied physics at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisbon, graduating in 2000 with an undergraduate and master's degree.

 He 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.

Career

After graduating, Loureiro joined Princeton University as a postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 2005.

in 2007 he left 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.

In 2016, Loureiro joined MIT as a professor and fusion scientist. He studied magnetic reconnection and plasma turbulence using computational simulations and published widely in scientific journals. 

in 2021 he became a full professor of physics 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.

In 2022, he became deputy director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT's largest lab, and was appointed full director in 2024.

In January 2025, President Joseph R. Biden presented Loureiro with the Presidential Early Career Award, the highest U.S. government honor for young scientists.

Teaching

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".

Personal life

He was married and had three children.

Death

Loureiro was shot in his apartment in Brookline, Massachusetts, on the evening of 15 December 2025. He was transported to a Boston hospital with gunshot wounds, where he was pronounced dead early on 16 December. Authorities opened a homicide investigation that received widespread publicity.

Shortly after, 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", and the U.S. ambassador to Portugal released a statement with condolences.

 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.

Awards

• American Physical Society Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research (2015)

• National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2017)

• Amar G. Bose Research Grant (2018)

• MIT School of Engineering Ruth & Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching (2022)

• Los Alamos National Laboratory Stanisław Ulam Distinguished Scholar (2023)

• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2025)