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Alice Augusta Ball, born in Seattle, Washington on July 24, 1892. She grew up in Seattle and briefly moved to Honolulu for the health of her grandfather, but returned to Seattle after his death in 1905. As a child, she was surrounded by science and innovation, her grandfather was one of the first African-Americans to learn and master Daguerreotype photography, which required a great understanding of chemistry. This time spent with her grandfather exposed Ball to ideas of science and discovery.
Upon returning to Seattle in 1905, Ball graduated high school and then from the University of Washington with degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacy. Continuing her education, Ball moved back to Hawaii and attended, former College of Hawaii, now University of Hawaii where she was the first African-American woman to earn a masters degree in chemistry.
Alongside, surgeon Harry T. Tolman, who was in search of a Hansen’s disease or Leprosy, Ball studied the active components of plants. Ball’s concentration on plant extraction properties for medicinal treatments in addition to her master’s degree program, took up most of her time. Ball focused on the root of the Chaulmoogra plant, whose qualities she believed could be applied through injection as a relief method for leprosy. However, Ball was never able to publish her conclusions as she passed away in 1916 due to chlorine poisoning as a result of exposure from inadequate ventilation in laboratories.
University of Hawaii president Arthur L. Dean continued and eventually published Ball’s work, but presented it to the world as if it was his own, seeing such a high demand for Hansen’s disease relief treatments. Ball’s research had focused on injections of Chaulmoogra root extracts as a method to keep Hansen’s disease under control. Dean’s exact copy of Ball’s methods caught up to him when Dr. Hollman, Ball’s co researcher, declared the injection method to be the “Ball method” and published his own work which she had done alongside him.
Alice Ball’s life was full of passion for science. She grew up in a knowledgeable and distinguished family, but still made way and proved her abilities through her innovative research. On top of being a woman in STEM when it was even less frequent than now, Alice Ball was also African-American, which brought on more forms of discrimination at the time. To her, being a woman had nothing to do with her ability to contribute to the science community. Instead it was her brain that mattered. The University of Hawaii in 2000 recognized this and dedicated a monumental plaque to Ball under the campus’s sole chaulmoogra tree, in recognition of her work and the great time it has taken for her to receive deserving credit.
By looking at Alice Ball and all she accomplished during her life, it is easy to see her impact on science. Her devotion to plant extractions for medicine and even in the way she passed away has taught us so much. We have learned the medicinal properties of wild plants, treatments and preventative methods of Hansen’s disease and the toxic qualities of chlorine. Ball’s early passing disrupted her research but shows how dedicated she was towards discovery.
In our lectures this week, we learned that many of the accomplished female scientists of the 1800’s and 1900’s were minimized due to their special circumstances. One could say this about Ball, and that she was bred for science having grown up surrounded by scientists, however that would be extremely discrediting to her. Ball made discoveries based on her own intuition and research. She studied and achieved high ranking on her own.
Alice Ball is one of the many female scientists that have been underserved in receiving representation for their work. Although she is not the only one, she still deserves to stand alone as her contributions have aided in treatment for over a century now. It is a shame that the world in which she worked so tirelessly to make discoveries for, couldn’t recognize her at the time.
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