MIT professor Thomas Rose died Wednesday from injures sustained after a driver struck him while riding his bike on Memorial Drive in Cambridge last month, according to the school.
Rose, 37, was in a crash with a vehicle at the intersection of the parkway and Massachusetts Avenue around 6 a.m. on Aug. 21, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office said in a press release Thursday. Rose was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital; the vehicle’s driver remained at the site of the crash. Ryan’s office said an investigation into the crash is ongoing.
The district attorney’s office did not identify the vehicle that was involved in the crash nor did not name the driver. They also did not give details about the nature of Rose’s injuries. Massachusetts State Police referred questions about the crash to the district attorney, and Ryan’s office did not respond to a request for additional information.
Rose, a native of Germany, began working at MIT in January. He studied ancient metallurgy and had begun setting up his laboratory and mentoring students, according to a remembrance posted by MIT. He was set to teach his first classes this fall.
In the story on MIT’s website, colleagues remarked that he was passionate, friendly and the ideal member of a hyper-specific department.
Outside of university, bike safety advocates are mourning Rose’s loss and renewing calls for added safety measures along Memorial Drive. The organization Cambridge Bike Safety said in a statement they are “heartbroken” over Rose’s death.
“He is the fifth person killed while walking or biking on Memorial Drive since 2014,” wrote the organization. “The danger on this state-controlled road was not unforeseen.”
Cambridge Bike Safety called for people to sign a petition urging the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which is responsible for the parkway, to redesign the roadway to slow traffic and widen pedestrian pathways.
The conservation department is currently working on a multi-year roadway improvement project to a portion of Memorial Drive, but the project does not include the intersection where Rose was struck.
This article was originally published on September 04, 2026.
