Alice Ball
Alice Ball, the first woman and African American to acquire a master's degree from the College of Hawaii (now the University of Hawaii), was a brilliant scientist who was virtually forgotten by history. Ball began working with Harry T. Hollmann, a physician who wanted to develop an efficient technique of treating leprosy with chaulmoogra oil, after being employed as a researcher and lecturer at the College of Hawaii upon her graduation (a treatment that was already in use but was unreliable). She created the first safe injectable therapy for leprosy by converting the oil into a water-soluble form.
At the age of 23, Ball invented a method for making the oil injectable and absorbable by the body. Her method required separating ester components from the oil and chemically altering them to create a material that kept the oil's medicinal effects while also being absorbed by the body when injected. Because of her premature death, Ball was unable to publish her innovative findings. Ball died in 1916, at the age of 24, perhaps from chlorine poisoning. Her work was continued by College of Hawaii president Arthur Dean, who refused to recognise her as a researcher because Ball had not yet published her findings. Without Hollmann's brief statement in a journal paper referring to her creation as "the Ball technique", knowledge of her work may have been lost forever.
Detailed information:
Born: July 24, 1892
Died: December 31, 1916 (aged 24)
Alma mater:
- University of Hawaii
- University of Washington
Known for:
- Treatment of leprosy
- Scientific career