Jo Hermans is professor of physics emeritus at Leiden University.
   He was also part-time professor at Eindhoven University of Technology, and visiting professor at Princeton University, Kyoto University and Universtite de Paris.
   His research focused on the role of internal degrees of freedom on collision processes in polyatomic gases, on molecule-surface interactions, on light-induced kinetic phenomena and on nuclear spin conversion in polyatomic molecules.
   His teaching activities included freshmen and graduate courses on general physics for medical students, on kinetic theory and transport processes, on optics and on molecule-surface interactions.
   In addition to his scientific career he served on a number of Committees and Boards, and was vice-Dean of the Science Faculty at Leiden University. He was also actively involved in various outreach activities.
  These include popular scientific talks on national radio broadcast, numerous lectures for schools and the general public, and three books (in Dutch) aimed at the general public:

He is Science Editor of Europhysics News (the magazine of the European physics community and the membership journal of the European Physical Society) and columnist of "Het Financieele Dagblad".