John Bewley Derieux was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 26, 1881. Derieux taught mathematics, physics, and manual training at Farragut High School in Concord, Tennessee before taking a job in 1910 as chief electrician for the United States Census Bureau. Derieux received his bachelor of science degree (1908) and master of science degree (1914) in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee. He then attended the University of Chicago, where he received a doctorate in physics in 1916 while serving as a laboratory assistant there. Derieux began teaching physics at the instructor level at North Carolina State College in 1916. He taught theoretical physics at NC State through 1947, when he retired from the faculty.

Derieux's research topics included a mysterious light on Brown Mountain, North Carolina; the effect of the tread on the resistance to skidding of automobile tires; the mileage of different grades of gasoline at different speeds; and the charge of the electron. Derieux served as president of the North Carolina Academy of Science, the physics section of the State Academy of Science and the Engineering Society of the University of Tennessee. He was a lecturer for Phi Kappa Phi, an academic honor society. Derieux was an active member of Fairmont Methodist Church in Raleigh and served on its board of trustees.

Derieux married Elizabeth Tipton, a Knoxville, Tennessee native. They had no children. Derieux died on March 18, 1948. After his death, his wife established a memorial award in physics in his honor, to be given annually to an NC State junior or senior.