Alice Ball

Alice Ball

Born: July 24, 1892, Seattle, Washington

Died: December 31, 1916 (aged 24), Seattle, Washington

Alice Augusta Ball was an American chemist who developed the “Ball Method” for making ethyl ester derivatives of chaulmoogra oil, which were used as a treatment for leprosy during the early 20th century. She was the first woman and first African American to receive a master’s degree from the University of Hawaiʻi, and was also the university’s first female and African American chemistry professor. She died at age 24 and her contributions to science were not recognized until many years after her death.

Alice Augusta Ball was the third child of a family of four, two older brothers and one younger sister. Alice’s father was a newspaper editor, photographer, and lawyer. Her grandfather was a famous photographer. She lived briefly in Hawaii before returning to Seattle where she earned a degree in pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacy. She then returned to Hawaii to accept a scholarship at the then College of Hawaii.

It was while studying for her master’s that she extracted the active chemical from ava roots. It was now that she perfected her method of extracting the active ingredient from the chaulmoogra tree. Chaulmoogra ointment made from the tree had been known as capable of relieving some of the side effects of leprosy. An ethyl ester of the oil (the “Ball method”) was developed by Alice Ball in 1916, who died suddenly before publishing the technique. Her work was stolen by Arthur L. Dean who began producing large quantities of the treatment and named it after himself. It was then produced and marketed by Burroughs Wellcome (modern GlaxoSmithKline) in the early 1920s. The oil preparations were used intravenously for lepers.

She did not receive the scientific recognition she deserved for many years. It was not until the 1940’s that sulfides and antibiotics replaced Chaulmoogra oil as the treatment for leprosy.

She died in 1916 at the age of 24. It has been suggested that the cause of her death may have been chlorine poisoning encountered in her laboratory work, but the actual cause is unknown. Her death certificate was altered to specify tuberculosis as her cause of death.