Dr John Hegarty, former Provost of Trinity College and past-pupil of St Colman's College, recently visited the college recently to speak to sixth year students.
Hegarty was born in Claremorris and was educated at St Colman’s College. He holds a BSc in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Philosophy from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, a H. Dip in Education also from Maynooth and a PhD from the National University of Ireland, Galway.
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.
Whilst in Trinity College he produced over 140 publications and developed a number of patents. He was co-founder of Optronics Ireland and of campus company Eblana Photonics.
He was appointed 43rd Provost of Trinity College in 2001 and served until 2011. 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.
Hegarty is a member and former chair of the Irish Fulbright Commission, a member of the Hugh Lane Gallery Board, a director of Innovation Advisory Partners and a member of The Irish Times Trust.
