Alice Augusta Ball was an African American chemist who developed the first successful treatment for Hansen’s disease (leprosy). She was born in Seattle, Washington, on July 24, 1892.
A talented student, Ball graduated from Seattle High School in 1910 and later earned undergraduate degrees in pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacy from the University of Washington. She transferred to the College of Hawaii (currently the University of Hawaii). In 1915, she became the first African American and the first woman to graduate with an M.S. degree in chemistry. After graduating, she was offered a teaching and research position there and became the first woman chemistry instructor at the age of 23.
Ball’s laboratory research focused on finding a treatment for Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Using chaulmoogra tree oil, she created the first injectable leprosy treatment. Until that time, the oil was only mildly successful as a topical medication. Ball manipulated the oil into different molecular weights, which allowed her to create a water-soluble injectable form. Ball’s scientific diligence brought about a very successful way to diminish leprosy symptoms for thousands of individuals that became known as the “Ball Method.” Physicians used the method for over thirty years until the introduction of sulfone drugs.
Without an effective cure for leprosy in nineteenth-century America, those suffering from the disease were considered “unclean” and exiled to leper colonies and kept away from families and friends. Symptoms of the disease included scaly skin and lesions, with advanced stages producing limb deformities. The “Ball Method” was so effective at treating the illness that leprosy patients kept isolated in medical facilities could return to their families, no longer suffering from their symptoms.
In 1916, Ball died tragically at the age of 24 after accidentally inhaling chlorine gas while teaching in the lab. She never realized the full effect of her discovery. What’s worse, after she died, Dr. Arthur Dean, president of the College of Hawaii, claimed her invention as his own, referring to it as the “Dean Method.” Fortunately, in 1922, Dr. Harry T. Hollmann, an assistant surgeon at Kalihi Hospital, gave Ball the credit she deserved in a published paper.
Ball’s achievements have received more recognition. In 2000, former Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, Mazie Hirono, declared February 29 as “Alice Ball Day” to honor Ball’s life and scientific accomplishments. The Alice Augusta Ball endowed scholarship to support students pursuing degrees in chemistry, biology, or microbiology was established by scholar Paul Wermager in 2017. Recognizing Ball’s work, he stated, “Not only did she overcome the racial and gender barriers of her time to become one of the very few African American women to earn a master’s degree in chemistry, [but she] also developed the first useful treatment for Hansen’s disease. Her amazing life was cut too short at the age of 24. Who knows what other marvelous work she could have accomplished had she lived.”