No need to apologize! It was totally rational to assume that these two events were unrelated. It is a wild sad story and we'll likely learn about the motive over the coming weeks. This story hit me particularly hard as I live about a 3 minute walk from the victim's house in the Brookline area.
>"The theoretical physicist and fusion scientist was known for his award-winning research in magnetised plasma dynamics.
Magnetised plasma dynamics is the study of the state of matter in which the motion of charged particles is influenced by the presence of an external magnetic field, according to Nature.
Loureiro joined MIT's faculty in 2016 and was named director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2024."
Although it may be a total red herring, it may be worth noting that there are (debatably pseudoscientific) theories -- primarily Plasma cosmology[1] and the Electric Universe theory[2] -- that are related to (and potentially in conflict with) this field of research.
My prediction is that it was a random home invasion robbery committed by someone with multiple previous felonies who had no idea that the person living in the house they were trying to rob was a MIT professor.
But I have no more information than anyone else does, I'm making a low-confidence educated guess, and at some point in the near future it's very likely that the professionals whose job it is to investigate serious crimes will have a better idea of what actually happened than anyone posting in this thread.
> Correction 16 December: An earlier version of this story incorrectly defined the kind of plasma that Professor Loureiro researched.
If I get shot and someone writes some libelous bullshit about how I worked with hygienic macro systems, someone kindly jump on that shit ASAP. Thanks in advance!
Brookline was rated Best Places to Live for Quality of Life in the U.S. in 2025-2026 by US News which "measures how satisfied residents are with their daily lives, and takes into account factors like crime, quality and availability of health care, quality of education and average commute time"
Flagged. The post is about someone just murdered, yet most of the HN comments on this post are strangely insensitive and dumb. HN ranks highly in Google, so friends and family members may see these comments.
I'd made another post (that I can't reply to) pointing to an Israeli news article that Nuno Loureiro was Jewish. Apparently, he was not, so please note the correction here.
To those who say that being Jewish would NOT have been a motivation for some in the world: stop evading reality. Especially so soon after the Bondi beach massacre.
28 comments
[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 55.2 ms ] threadhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmbmBNre5SQ
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9755-6563
Magnetised plasma dynamics is the study of the state of matter in which the motion of charged particles is influenced by the presence of an external magnetic field, according to Nature.
Loureiro joined MIT's faculty in 2016 and was named director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center in 2024."
Although it may be a total red herring, it may be worth noting that there are (debatably pseudoscientific) theories -- primarily Plasma cosmology[1] and the Electric Universe theory[2] -- that are related to (and potentially in conflict with) this field of research.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_cosmology
2: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Electric_Universe
But I have no more information than anyone else does, I'm making a low-confidence educated guess, and at some point in the near future it's very likely that the professionals whose job it is to investigate serious crimes will have a better idea of what actually happened than anyone posting in this thread.
If I get shot and someone writes some libelous bullshit about how I worked with hygienic macro systems, someone kindly jump on that shit ASAP. Thanks in advance!
That's some Uri-Geller-level mindreading you're doing there, of someone we can't yet identify.
I also live nearby.
Also, jewel thieves don't abseil down from the ceiling.
To those who say that being Jewish would NOT have been a motivation for some in the world: stop evading reality. Especially so soon after the Bondi beach massacre.