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Nuno Loureiro, a professor of nuclear science and engineering and of physics at MIT, has died. He was 47.

In a letter to the MIT community, President Sally Kornbluth wrote, “With great sadness, I write to share the tragic news that Professor Nuno Loureiro, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), died early this morning from gunshot wounds he sustained a few hours before. In the face of this shocking loss, our hearts go out to his wife and their family and to his many devoted students, friends and colleagues.”

A lauded theoretical physicist and fusion scientist, Loureiro joined MIT’s faculty in 2016. His research addressed complex problems lurking at the center of fusion vacuum chambers and at the edges of the universe.

Loureiro’s research at MIT advanced scientists’ understanding of plasma behavior, including turbulence, and uncovered the physics behind astronomical phenomena like solar flares. He was the Herman Feshbach (1942) Professor of Physics at MIT and was named director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2024, though his contributions to fusion science and engineering began far before that.

His research on magnetized plasma dynamics, magnetic field amplification, and confinement and transport in fusion plasmas helped inform 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.

“Nuno was not only a brilliant scientist, he was a brilliant person,” says Dennis Whyte, the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering, who previously served as the head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center. “He shone a bright light as a mentor, friend, teacher, colleague and leader, and was universally admired for his articulate, compassionate manner. His loss is immeasurable to our community at the PSFC, NSE and MIT, and around the entire fusion and plasma research world.”

“Nuno was a champion for plasma physics within the Physics Department, a wonderful and engaging colleague, and an inspiring and caring mentor for graduate students working in plasma science.  His recent work on quantum computing algorithms for plasma physics simulations was a particularly exciting new scientific direction,” says Deepto Chakrabarty, the William A. M. Burden Professor in Astrophysics and head of the Department of Physics.

Whether working on fusion or astrophysics research, Loureiro merged fundamental physics with technology and engineering, to maximize impact.

“There are people who are driven by technology and engineering, and others who are driven by fundamental mathematics and physics. We need both,” Loureiro said in 2019. “When we stimulate theoretically inclined minds by framing plasma physics and fusion challenges as beautiful theoretical physics problems, we bring into the game incredibly brilliant students — people who we want to attract to fusion development.”

Loureiro majored in physics at Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST) in Portugal and obtained a PhD in physics at Imperial College London in 2005. He conducted postdoctoral work at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for the next two years before moving to the UKAEA Culham Center for Fusion Energy in 2007. Loureiro returned to IST in 2009, where he was a researcher at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion until coming to MIT in 2016.

He wasted no time contributing to the intellectual environment at MIT, spending part of his first two years at the Institute working on the vexing problem of plasma turbulence. Plasma is the super-hot state of matter that serves as the fuel for fusion reactors. Loureiro’s lab at PSFC illuminated how plasma behaves inside fusion reactors, which could help prevent material failures and better contain the plasma to harvest electricity.

“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. His absence will be felt profoundly across NSE and far beyond,” Benoit Forget, the KEPCO Professor and head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, wrote in an email to the department today.

On other fronts, Loureiro’s work in astrophysics helped reveal fundamental mechanisms of the universe. He put forward the first theory of turbulence in pair plasmas, which differ from regular plasmas and may be abundant in space. The work was driven, in part, by unprecedented observations of a binary neutron star merger in 2018.

As an assistant professor and then a full professor at MIT, Loureiro taught course 22.612 (Intro to Plasma Physics) and course 22.615 (MHD Theory of Fusion Systems), for which he was twice recognized with the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering’s PAI Outstanding Professor Award.

Loureiro’s research earned him many prominent awards throughout his prolific career, including the National Science Foundation Career Award and the American Physical Society Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research. He was also an American Physical Society Fellow. Earlier this year, he earned the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Additional tributes from those in the MIT community who knew Nuno Loureiro

“I was one of Nuno’s PhD students at PSFC. Nuno has granted me some of the most rewarding years of my life. He was an incredible mentor, a caring teacher, and a good friend. I am grateful to have had a couple of truly transformative years with him.”

—Dion Li, graduate student in physics

“I worked closely with Nuno since I joined the PSFC in 2018. In my 15 years working at MIT, Nuno has been one of the best PIs I have had the privilege to work with. I witnessed him start as an associate professor and rise to become the head of our lab. Over the years, we worked, laughed, and grew together. I saw firsthand how hard he worked, how many proposals he wrote, and how deeply he cared for his family, students, colleagues, and friends. He was impactful, kind, and grounded, and through humor and sincerity, he reminded us that scientists don’t just do science — they also carry deep feelings for the people around them.”

—Kwokin Ou, research administrator in the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center

“In losing Nuno, we have lost a singularly brilliant scientist and human being. His leadership was built upon not only scientific excellence, but also the personal connections he forged by making people in the laboratory community feel valued. Nuno treated teaching with tremendous care, and his love of the field shone through continuously. I am so fortunate to have learned from him.” 

—Rachel Bielajew, visiting scientist in the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center

“Speaking at a PSFC all-hands meeting in May 2024 — his first as the newly appointed PSFC director — Nuno said the following, which I found to be quite inspiring: ‘I am very certain that there is no point whatsoever in doing anything here [at the PSFC] that we don’t have the chance of being the best in the world at. … If we do something new, or if we keep doing what we’re doing, let it be for the reason that we can be the best. So if we’re not the best, that’s what we should be aspiring to be; if we are the best, let’s keep it that way.’” 

—Alex Tinguely, research scientist and group leader in the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center

“From the very beginning and throughout, Nuno was a foundational part of my life here at MIT — he interviewed me when I applied, he and my primary advisor held joint group social events, he helped me study for qualifying exams, he taught a class I took, and he was on my qualifying exam and thesis committees. Shortly after my final oral presentation for quals, I ran into him in a PSFC hallway, and we were alone. Nuno told me that he was seriously impressed, that I should be proud of myself, and that he was excited to see how our research unfolds. I will forever carry this and countless other memories of Nuno’s kindness. I already miss him deeply.” 

—Lansing Horan IV, graduate student in nuclear science and engineering

—Simran Chowdhry, graduate student in nuclear science and engineering  

“Although I did not work with Nuno directly, my interactions with him through classes and his help with my qualifying exam left a profound impact on my life. Always student focused, Nuno never let his successes interfere with being a great educator and friend. Whether it was through quick updates in the hallways of the PSFC or joking about who makes the best espresso during meetings, Nuno was always willing to give students his time.” 

—Evan Lambert, graduate student in nuclear science and engineering