5 ms·

MIT Professor Is Fatally Shot in His Home

65 points by donohoe 10mo ago

toomuchtodo 10mo ago
Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro https://archive.today/0RiGK https://archive.today/0RiGK https://news.mit.edu/2024/nuno-loureiro-named-director-mit-plasma-science-fusion-center-0501 https://news.mit.edu/2024/nuno-loureiro-named-director-mit-p... https://nse.mit.edu/people/nuno-f-loureiro/ https://nse.mit.edu/people/nuno-f-loureiro/ https://physics.mit.edu/faculty/nuno-gomes-loureiro/ https://physics.mit.edu/faculty/nuno-gomes-loureiro/
jablongo 10mo ago
Not sure what we should we make of this. Besides the tragedy of losing a human being and a scientist, is this significant in another way?
- k8si 10mo ago
  I'm not sure people outside of Greater Boston would care, but those of us who do live there probably find it exceedingly strange that this occurred in Brookline of all places.
  - methyl 10mo ago
    This was headline news in Poland
- lawlessone 10mo ago
  Looking at a map and and it seems relatively close to Brown(i'm not American , maybe these are very far apart when you are actually there), and that shooter hasn't been caught.
  - kai_herron 10mo ago
    Providence is about an hour drive away from where I'm at in Greater Boston, less so if your in the city.
- jeffwask 10mo ago
  Nothing yet, but the timing is oddly coincidental to the shooting that occurred a Brown University a few days ago. Probably nothing there but who knows.
  - jeffwask 10mo ago
    Maybe we are on to something https://abcnews.go.com/US/brown-mass-shooting-mit-professor-murder-linked-sources/story?id=128530691 https://abcnews.go.com/US/brown-mass-shooting-mit-professor-...
  - mk89 10mo ago
    Reuters (partially) confirms it [0] > Foley, the top prosecutor in Boston, said at a press conference that investigators were certain Valente "murdered MIT professor Nuno Loureiro" on Monday, saying that prosecutors have ample evidence linking him to the crime. [0] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/police-probe-links-between-brown-university-shooting-killing-mit-professor-2025-12-18/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/police-probe-links-between-...
- yeah879846 10mo ago
  [dead]
- willis936 10mo ago
  We have no info but he was the department head of the MIT PSFC. It's easy to imagine a deranged individual picking a high profile target by browsing MIT's website. Or it was a domestic dispute or road rage or any number of things that would drive someone to shoot someone in their home. We have no information and can only speculate.
stanleysTool 10mo ago
Let's hope not another troubled and struggling math graduate: Murder of Karel de Leeuw - Wikipedia Murder of Karel de Leeuw Theodore Landon "Ted" Streleski (born 1936), an American former graduate student in mathematics at Stanford University, murdered his former faculty advisor, Professor Karel de Leeuw, with a ball-peen hammer on August 18, 1978.
gnabgib 10mo ago
From MIT: Nuno Loureiro, professor and director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, dies at 47 https://news.mit.edu/2025/nuno-loureiro-professor-director-plasma-science-and-fusion-center-dies-1216 https://news.mit.edu/2025/nuno-loureiro-professor-director-p...
admeyer 10mo ago
[flagged]
Mr_Eri_Atlov 10mo ago
If any entity had a goal to hamstring research progress in America and get away with it, due to it being unnoticeable in the sea of regular shootings and political upheavals, there would be no better time to do so.
- arnz-arnz 10mo ago
  it's the best time for all manner of crimes in fact. It's so sad what a small cabal of lunatics can do.
rrawasi 10mo ago
[flagged]
- 0_____0 10mo ago
  what is the point of idle speculation like this?
  - noduerme 10mo ago
    The point of this user's sole comment on HN is to imply that Israel is nefarious and that anyome working with Israel may be targeted for assassination (regardless that there's no indication this person was). I don't think this post should be flagged or removed. There should be a separate classification for nation-state trollbots promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories.
    - mupuff1234 10mo ago
      A few days ago one of the top HN posts was a antisemitic conspiracy cesspool so I'm afraid we're long past that point.
      - noduerme 10mo ago
        Which?
        mupuff1234 10mo ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46262524 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46262524
        noduerme 10mo ago
        Guh. Thanks. I'm glad my phone is down to 2% battery and I don't have the energy to go through all that tonight.
    - 10mo ago
austengary2 10mo ago
"Plasma physicist Nuno Loureiro was helping to develop clean-energy fusion devices." Big oil says no.

65 points by donohoe 10mo ago

Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro https://archive.today/0RiGK https://archive.today/0RiGK https://news.mit.edu/2024/nuno-loureiro-named-director-mit-plasma-science-fusion-center-0501 https://news.mit.edu/2024/nuno-loureiro-named-director-mit-p... https://nse.mit.edu/people/nuno-f-loureiro/ https://nse.mit.edu/people/nuno-f-loureiro/ https://physics.mit.edu/faculty/nuno-gomes-loureiro/ https://physics.mit.edu/faculty/nuno-gomes-loureiro/

jablongo 10mo ago

Not sure what we should we make of this. Besides the tragedy of losing a human being and a scientist, is this significant in another way?

k8si 10mo ago
I'm not sure people outside of Greater Boston would care, but those of us who do live there probably find it exceedingly strange that this occurred in Brookline of all places.
- methyl 10mo ago
  This was headline news in Poland
lawlessone 10mo ago
Looking at a map and and it seems relatively close to Brown(i'm not American , maybe these are very far apart when you are actually there), and that shooter hasn't been caught.
- kai_herron 10mo ago
  Providence is about an hour drive away from where I'm at in Greater Boston, less so if your in the city.
jeffwask 10mo ago
Nothing yet, but the timing is oddly coincidental to the shooting that occurred a Brown University a few days ago. Probably nothing there but who knows.
- jeffwask 10mo ago
  Maybe we are on to something https://abcnews.go.com/US/brown-mass-shooting-mit-professor-murder-linked-sources/story?id=128530691 https://abcnews.go.com/US/brown-mass-shooting-mit-professor-...
- mk89 10mo ago
  Reuters (partially) confirms it [0] > Foley, the top prosecutor in Boston, said at a press conference that investigators were certain Valente "murdered MIT professor Nuno Loureiro" on Monday, saying that prosecutors have ample evidence linking him to the crime. [0] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/police-probe-links-between-brown-university-shooting-killing-mit-professor-2025-12-18/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/police-probe-links-between-...
yeah879846 10mo ago
[dead]
willis936 10mo ago
We have no info but he was the department head of the MIT PSFC. It's easy to imagine a deranged individual picking a high profile target by browsing MIT's website. Or it was a domestic dispute or road rage or any number of things that would drive someone to shoot someone in their home. We have no information and can only speculate.

stanleysTool 10mo ago

Let's hope not another troubled and struggling math graduate: Murder of Karel de Leeuw - Wikipedia Murder of Karel de Leeuw Theodore Landon "Ted" Streleski (born 1936), an American former graduate student in mathematics at Stanford University, murdered his former faculty advisor, Professor Karel de Leeuw, with a ball-peen hammer on August 18, 1978.

gnabgib 10mo ago

From MIT: Nuno Loureiro, professor and director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, dies at 47 https://news.mit.edu/2025/nuno-loureiro-professor-director-plasma-science-and-fusion-center-dies-1216 https://news.mit.edu/2025/nuno-loureiro-professor-director-p...

admeyer 10mo ago

[flagged]

Mr_Eri_Atlov 10mo ago

If any entity had a goal to hamstring research progress in America and get away with it, due to it being unnoticeable in the sea of regular shootings and political upheavals, there would be no better time to do so.

arnz-arnz 10mo ago
it's the best time for all manner of crimes in fact. It's so sad what a small cabal of lunatics can do.

rrawasi 10mo ago

[flagged]

0_____0 10mo ago
what is the point of idle speculation like this?
- noduerme 10mo ago
  The point of this user's sole comment on HN is to imply that Israel is nefarious and that anyome working with Israel may be targeted for assassination (regardless that there's no indication this person was). I don't think this post should be flagged or removed. There should be a separate classification for nation-state trollbots promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories.
  - mupuff1234 10mo ago
    A few days ago one of the top HN posts was a antisemitic conspiracy cesspool so I'm afraid we're long past that point.
    - noduerme 10mo ago
      Which?
      - mupuff1234 10mo ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46262524 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46262524
        noduerme 10mo ago
        Guh. Thanks. I'm glad my phone is down to 2% battery and I don't have the energy to go through all that tonight.
  - 10mo ago

austengary2 10mo ago

"Plasma physicist Nuno Loureiro was helping to develop clean-energy fusion devices." Big oil says no.