John Hegarty (academic)

John Hegarty (born 1948) is an Irish physicist and academic who served as the 43rd Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 2001 to 2011.

Early life and education
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.

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.

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