John Hegarty

John Hegarty is an Irish physicist and academic. He was elected 43rd Provost of Trinity College Dublin in 2001 for a ten-year term.

He was born in Claremorris, County Mayo, and was educated locally at St Colman's College. He holds a BSc in Physics/Chemistry/Mathematics/Philosophy from St Patrick's College, Maynooth, a HDipEd also from Maynooth and a PhD from University College Galway.

Later academic career

Following a postdoctoral stay at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he was a research scientist at Bell Labs, New Jersey for six years. He returned to Ireland in 1986 as Professor of Laser Physics in Trinity College. Producing over 140 publications, and developing a number of patents, he was a co-founder of Optronics Ireland and of campus company Eblana Photonics. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy, the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers and Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

Prior to becoming Provost, Hegarty was Dean of Research and Head of the Physics Department.

Hegarty is married to Neasa Ní Chinnéide, President of the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages, and they have two children, Cillian and Ciarán.