John Hegarty (born 1948) is an Irish physicist and academic who served as the 43rd Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 2001 to 2011.
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.
Following a postdoctoral stay at the University of WisconsinâÂÂMadison, he was a research scientist at Bell Labs, New Jersey for six years. He returned to Ireland in 1986 as a professor of Laser Physics at Trinity College. Producing over 140 publications, and developing several patents, he was a co-founder of Optronics Ireland and 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.
Before becoming Provost, Hegarty was Dean of Research and Head of the Physics Department.
Hegarty is married to Neasa NàChinnéide, President of the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages, and they have two children, Cillian and Ciarán.