Alice Ball (1892-1916) was responsible for a groundbreaking treatment for what was once an infamously debilitating and feared disease.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today’s STEMinist was responsible for a groundbreaking treatment for what was once an infamously debilitating and feared disease. Despite that fact, she is one of many women scientists who has only recently started to receive the recognition she deserves. Let’s talk about Alice Ball.
Alice Augusta Ball was born in Seattle, Washington in 1892.
Her grandfather,James P. Ball Sr., is now known as one of the first African Americans in the U.S. to learn daguerreotype photography, the first publicly available photographic technique. The method involved a chemical process using mercury vapor and a silvered copper plate. Many of Alice’s family members were photographers, exposing Alice to some fascinating chemistry from an early age.
In 1903, Alice’s whole family moved with James Ball Sr. to Hawaii. He was seeking a better climate to improve his poor health, and he opened a photo studio in Honolulu. Unfortunately, he passed away shortly after the move and Alice’s family returned to Seattle in 1905.
Alice attended the University of Washington and earned a degree in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1912 and a degree in pharmacy in 1914. For graduate school, Alice returned to Hawaii and became the first woman, as well as the first African-American, to receive a degree in chemistry from the College of Hawaii. When she started teaching chemistry there the very same year, she was the first woman to do so.
Meanwhile, doctors at Kalihi Hospital in Hawaii were struggling to treat a famously debilitating disease -- Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy. Kalihi Hospital was one of the few facilities in the territory to take Hansen’s disease patients. Though Hansen’s disease is actually not particularly contagious, it can have visible and crippling side effects that earned it a stigmatized and feared reputation. Untreated Hansen’s disease patients could suffer from skin lesions, nerve damage, or even paralysis.
Facilities like Kalihi Hospital were working on using treatments that included chaulmoogra oil, derived from the seeds of an evergreen tree. When patients rubbed the oil on their skin, consumed it, or injected it, their Hansen’s disease showed improvement. The catch? Working with pure natural oils brings inconsistent results, and this technique caused unpleasant side effects.
The ideal treatment would not use the pure oil, but a solution of its most important chemical parts.
Harry T. Hollmann, an assistant surgeon at Kalihi Hospital, recruited Alice to help work on a more effective treatment for Hansen’s disease. He had taken notice of her impressive work as an instructor at the College of Hawaii, where she had managed to chemically break down another plant into its active components.
Alice started working tirelessly on the cure right away. She taught during the day and rigorously studied the components of the oil at night. She was working under extreme pressure, and some claim the overwork made her sick.
Nevertheless, Alice produced the key part of a new treatment in less than a year. She created a water soluble solution of chaulmoogra oil’s main components that could be injected with few side effects.
Alice unfortunately didn’t get to publish her findings personally. She fell ill shortly after discovering this technique and returned home to Seattle. There, she passed away on December 31, 1916. She was just 24 years old.
Her obituary in a Honolulu newspaper claimed she suffered from chlorine poisoning while instructing her chemistry class. Ventilation hoods were not yet mandatory safety equipment in labs at that time.
After Alice’s death, other researchers refined and published her technique without giving her the credit she deserved. This injectable for leprosy became in demand around the world, making it the standard treatment method until the 1940’s.
Over the past 20 years, Alice Ball has started to earn her due recognition for her incredible work. Harry Hollman made it clear in one 1922 medical journal that Alice was the one responsible for creating the oil solution, using what he called the “Ball Method.” Without this brief mention, Alice might have never been recognized for her achievements.
The University of Hawaii has since placed a plaque dedicated to Alice beneath its only chaulmoogra tree. The university’s Board of Regents also posthumously awarded Alice its Medal of Distinction in 2007. There’s also a scholarship endowed in her honor.
All month, we’re talking about STEMinists. For more on why we’re doing what we’re doing, check out our newsletter, Womannica Weekly. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @encyclopediawomannica.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!