James Herms

Toothpaste inventor: Sensodyne couldn’t have set off Galluccio’s court-ordered Breathalyzer test
       A Cambridge man who holds patents on agents used in Sensodyne toothpaste said state Sen. Anthony Galluccio can brush his teeth all he wants — it shouldn’t set off any court-issued breathalyzer tests he is required to take.…
       “If the senator or anyone has sensitive teeth, what’s more important than the toothpaste is the toothbrush,” Herms said. “You cannot get buzzed off of toothpaste.”
       — Jillian Fennimore, Cambridge Chronicle, January 4, 2010.  

MIT Crime Club and the Sensodyne Defense
       When the booze-crazy alleged drunk Anthony Gallucio … allegedly violated his probation by failing a breathalyzer test, he blamed his toothpaste. Unfortunately for the reputed dipsomaniac, one of Sensodyne’s inventors actually lives around here — and heads MIT’s awesome Crime Club.…
       … He claims that sorbitol, the type of alcohol that Gallucio claimed accounts for the supposedly false result, would not alter the results of a blood alcohol test.
       — Rick Sawyer, Bostonist, January 4, 2010.
 

... James helped to resolve a pressing issue between the University and its security guards ... Through his relentless, voluntary work on their behalf a resolution soon followed

Resolution List for City Council Meeting of Monday, March 24, 2003
10. Thanking James K. Herms for his dedication to the City and Citizens of the City of Cambridge.
       — City Council Res. 10, 2002–03 Leg., Mar. 24 Sess. (2003).
 

More GardensMore Peas!

Herms (in green), Victory Celebration, Jardin del Paradiso

More Gardens! Coalition, Victory Celebration, Jardin del Paraíso, New York (June 20, 1999)

Students oppose city attempts to sell gardens
       Jim Herms, More Gardens! Coalition organizer and Columbia student, said that litigants like the Puerto Rican Defense League claimed that “the proposed sales discriminate against the minority communities where most of these gardens are.”
       — Kit Slack, Columbia Daily Spectator, May 26, 1999. 

Ending a long battle, New York lets housing and gardens grow
       The city agreed to preserve some 500 community gardens….
       … Giuliani … wanted to put an end to the hundreds of gardens….  The garden supporters  were willing to descend on City Hall dressed as vegetables or insects….
       — Jennifer Steinhauer, New York Times, September 19, 2002.
 

U.S. Patent No. 6,241,972 (filed Feb. 19, 1999) (issued June 5, 2001). Assigned by James Herms & Gregory Dodd to Block Drug Co., mfr. of Sensodyne.

       — Oral care formulation for the treatment of sensitive teeth, U.S. Patent 6,241,972.  (In 2001, Block Drug Company, the manufacturer of Sensodyne toothpaste, was integrated into GlaxoSmithKline’s Consumer Healthcare sector.) 

Chemical Stress Cracking of Acrylic Fibers” (Mat.E. thesis, MIT, 1987), Barker Library Microforms

James Herms (@jherms), Twitter; James Herms, Google+ (misc. documents)
herms@alum.mit.edu

http://alum.mit.edu/www/herms
Modified Apr. 11, 2018