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Alice Ball
1892–1916 · Chemist
An African American chemist who developed an effective injectable treatment for Hansen's disease, work that went largely uncredited after her early death.
“I work and work and still it seems I have nothing done.”
Why is this scientist famous?
Developed one of the first effective injectable treatments for Hansen's disease by making chaulmoogra oil injectable, a method that remained the best treatment available for over two decades.
Alice's story
Growing Up in Seattle
Alice Augusta Ball was born on 24 July 1892 in Seattle, Washington, into a family that valued education and achievement. Her grandfather was the famous daguerreotypist James Presley Ball, one of the first African American photographers in the United States, and her father carried on the family tradition as a photographer, journalist, and lawyer. In 1903 her family moved to Hawaii hoping to improve her grandfather’s health, then returned to Seattle after his death in 1904. Alice excelled in school from an early age, showing a particular talent for science. She graduated from Broadway High School with excellent grades in 1910, determined to pursue a career in chemistry at a time when few women, and fewer Black women, were welcomed in the laboratory.
The University of Washington
Ball enrolled at the University of Washington, where she earned two degrees in four years: a degree in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1912 and a second degree in pharmacy in 1914. Her undergraduate work was impressive enough that she co-authored a paper with her professor, published in the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society — a remarkable achievement for a young Black woman in the 1910s. After graduation, she was offered a scholarship to study for a master's degree at the College of Hawaii (now the University of Hawaii) in Honolulu. She accepted, moving across the Pacific to continue her education.
Hawaii and the Leprosy Breakthrough
At the College of Hawaii, Ball first completed her master’s research on the chemistry of the kava (ava) root. A public-health physician then asked her to apply her chemical expertise to chaulmoogra oil, used against Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Hawaii had experienced decades of forced isolation of people with the disease. Thousands of sufferers had been exiled to the remote Kalaupapa peninsula on the island of Molokai, cut off from their families and left to die. Existing chaulmoogra preparations were difficult to administer and produced unreliable results. Ball developed a chemical method that converted its active fatty acids into injectable ethyl esters that were easier for the body to absorb. Her chemical work produced what became known as the Ball Method and made chaulmoogra treatment much more practical.
Recognition Delayed
Ball became seriously ill and returned to Seattle, where she died on 31 December 1916 at only 24. The precise cause of her illness has been debated. After her death, College of Hawai'i president Arthur L. Dean continued the chaulmoogra work and published results without adequately crediting Ball's contribution. In 1922 physician Harry T. Hollmann publicly described her role and referred to the technique as the 'Ball Method'. Her achievements received much wider recognition many decades later.
What did they discover?
The Ball Method for Hansen's Disease Treatment (1915)
Ball discovered how to chemically modify chaulmoogra oil to make it injectable, creating one of the first effective injectable treatments for Hansen's disease. The method remained the standard treatment for over two decades, until sulfone drugs were developed in the 1940s.
Pioneering Work in Fatty Acid Chemistry
Her technique for isolating and modifying the fatty acid esters of chaulmoogra oil demonstrated an advanced understanding of organic chemistry that was remarkable for a 23-year-old graduate student.
Amazing facts
She was the first woman and the first Black American to earn a master's degree from the College of Hawaii (now the University of Hawaii) in 1915.
She was just 24 years old when she died, before she could publish her groundbreaking research.
After Ball's death, Arthur L. Dean continued and published the chaulmoogra work without adequately acknowledging her contribution; Harry Hollmann later explicitly credited the technique as the 'Ball Method'.
Her contribution remained little known for decades before historians and University of Hawai'i researchers helped restore her place in the history of chemistry.
The University of Hawaii installed a bronze plaque in her honour in 2000, near a chaulmoogra tree planted on the University of Hawai'i campus in her honour in 1935.
February 28 has been proclaimed Alice Augusta Ball Day in Hawai'i.
She co-authored a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society while still an undergraduate — a remarkable achievement for a young Black woman in the 1910s.
Her grandfather, James Presley Ball, was one of the first African American photographers in the United States.
Timeline
Born in Seattle, Washington
Graduated from Broadway High School with excellent grades
Earned degree in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Washington
Earned second degree in pharmacy from the University of Washington
Became the first woman and first Black American to earn a master’s degree from the College of Hawaii
Developed the ‘Ball Method’ for injectable chaulmoogra oil treatment for leprosy
Died at the age of 24, before she could publish her findings
Awards & honours
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