diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/mpi4py/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/mpi4py/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..74d46def9074
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/mpi4py/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, python, buildPythonPackage, mpi, openssh }:
+
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  name = "mpi4py-1.3.1";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "https://bitbucket.org/mpi4py/mpi4py/downloads/${name}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "e7bd2044aaac5a6ea87a87b2ecc73b310bb6efe5026031e33067ea3c2efc3507";
+  };
+
+  passthru = {
+    inherit mpi;
+  };
+
+  configurePhase = "";
+
+  installPhase = ''
+    mkdir -p "$out/lib/${python.libPrefix}/site-packages"
+    export PYTHONPATH="$out/lib/${python.libPrefix}/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH"
+
+    ${python}/bin/${python.executable} setup.py install \
+      --install-lib=$out/lib/${python.libPrefix}/site-packages \
+      --prefix="$out"
+
+    # --install-lib:
+    # sometimes packages specify where files should be installed outside the usual
+    # python lib prefix, we override that back so all infrastructure (setup hooks)
+    # work as expected
+  '';
+
+  setupPyBuildFlags = ["--mpicc=${mpi}/bin/mpicc"];
+
+  buildInputs = [ mpi ];
+  # Requires openssh for tests. Tests of dependent packages will also fail,
+  # if openssh is not present. E.g. h5py with mpi support.
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ openssh ];
+
+  meta = {
+    description = "
+      Provides Python bindings for the Message Passing Interface standard.
+    ";
+    homepage = "http://code.google.com/p/mpi4py/";
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.bsd3;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index fccad5c81de4..59f00576dad2 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -105,6 +105,12 @@ rec {
     pylabQtSupport = false;
   });
 
+  mpi4py = callPackage ../development/python-modules/mpi4py {
+    inherit (pkgs) stdenv fetchurl openssh;
+    inherit python buildPythonPackage;
+    mpi = pkgs.openmpi;
+  };
+
   nixpart = callPackage ../tools/filesystems/nixpart { };
 
   # This is used for NixOps to make sure we won't break it with the next major