MIT Professor Fatally Shot at Home

A leading MIT physicist who studied how to harness fusion energy was fatally shot at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Monday night, authorities say. Police responding to reports of gunfire around 8:30pm found 47-year-old Nuno Loureiro with multiple gunshot wounds inside an apartment on Gibbs Street, according to Brookline police. He was taken to a Boston hospital and died Tuesday morning. No arrests have been made in what Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey's office calls "an active and ongoing homicide investigation," CBS News reports.

Loureiro, originally from Portugal, was a professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT and last May was appointed director of the school's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of MIT's largest research labs. His work focused on plasma behavior, including the physics behind solar flares and other space phenomena, and on advancing fusion power as a potential source of carbon-free energy. He joined MIT in 2016. He was previously a researcher at the Institute for Plasma and Nuclear Fusion in Lisbon, the New York Times reports.

In a 2017 interview, Loureiro said he was "completely overwhelmed" by the institute, adding that its impact is hard to grasp "before you've experienced it." MIT expressed condolences to his family, students, and colleagues and said it is offering support to those affected.