Alice Ball

{{Short description| Black American chemist (1892–1916)}} {{distinguish|Alice Bell}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Alice Ball | image = Alice Augusta Ball.jpg | caption = Ball in 1915 | birth_name = Alice Augusta Ball | birth_date = {{birth date|1892|7|24}} | birth_place = Seattle, Washington | death_date = {{death date and age|1916|12|31|1892|7|24}} | death_place = U.S. | citizenship = | field = Chemistry | alma_mater = {{hlist|University of Hawaiʻi | University of Washington}} | known_for = Treatment of leprosy }}

'''Alice Augusta Ball''' (July 24, 1892 – December 31, 1916) was a Black American chemist whose groundbreaking work produced the first effective treatment for Hansen's disease, better known as leprosy. She was born in Seattle, Washington, to James Presley Ball Jr. and Laura Louise Ball. Her father was a photographer, journalist, and lawyer, while her mother left a photography career to raise the family.<ref name="Black Past"/> Ball excelled academically, graduating from Seattle High School with strong interests in the sciences.<ref name="NatGeog_almost_lost"/>

She continued her education at the University of Washington, earning a pharmaceutical chemistry degree in 1912<ref name="catalogue_UniWash_1912_1913">{{Cite book |title=Catalogue of the University of Washington for 1912–1913 and Announcements for 1913–1914 |last=University of Washington |year=1913 |location=Olympia, Washington |publisher=University of Washington |url=https://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/archive/GenCat1912-14v1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260329112920/https://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/archive/GenCat1912-14v1.pdf |archive-date=2026-03-29 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|269,328,332}} and a bachelor's degree in pharmacy in 1914.<ref name="catalogue_UniWash_1914_1915">{{Cite book |title=Catalogue of the University of Washington for 1914–1915 and Announcements for 1915–1916 |last=University of Washington |year=1915 |location=Olympia, Washington|publisher=University of Washington|url=https://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/archive/GenCat1914-16v1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260329112339/https://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/archive/GenCat1914-16v1.pdf |archive-date=2026-03-29 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|406,409}}<ref name="Black Past"/> During her studies, she co-authored a research paper on benzoylation reactions published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, making her one of the first Black American women to publish in a major scientific journal.<ref name="Mushtaq Wermager Alice Augusta Ball">{{cite journal |last1=Mushtaq |first1=Sabha |last2=Wermager |first2=Paul |title=Alice Augusta Ball: The African-American chemist who pioneered the first viable treatment for Hansen's Disease |journal=Clinics in Dermatology |date=January 2023 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=147–158 |doi=10.1016/j.clindermatol.2022.11.001 |pmid=36384187 }}</ref> Ball earned a scholarship to the College of Hawaiʻi (now University of Hawaiʻi), where she completed a master's degree in chemistry in 1915, becoming the first woman and first Black American to achieve the degree, and was subsequently appointed as the college's first female chemistry instructor.<ref>Dwyer, Mitchell. n.d. "A Woman Who Changed the World." University of Hawai‘i Foundation. https://www.uhfoundation.org/impact/students/woman-who-changed-world. </ref>

While working in Hawaiʻi, Ball was approached by Harry T. Hollmann of the Leprosy Investigation Station, who sought help improving the therapeutic use of chaulmoogra oil, a traditional but highly ineffective treatment for leprosy.<ref name="NatGeog_almost_lost"/> The disease carried a severe stigma, with patients often being forcibly isolated in remote settlements with horrible conditions.<ref name="Black Past"/> Though chaulmoogra oil had shown potential for centuries, its extreme viscosity and poor absorption made it nearly impossible to administer effectively. Ingested doses caused nausea and vomiting, while injectable forms caused painful lesions under the skin.<ref name="Mushtaq Wermager Alice Augusta Ball"/>

Ball's critical innovation was developing a method to chemically modify chaulmoogra oil's fatty acids into ethyl esters, making the compound water-soluble and suitable for injection.<ref name="NatGeog_almost_lost"/> This process, later called the "Ball Method," allowed the drug to be absorbed into the bloodstream safely and efficiently, overcoming the problems that had prevented earlier use.<ref name="Mushtaq Wermager Alice Augusta Ball"/> By 1920, health authorities in Hawaiʻi reported that many patients who received the Ball Method were able to return home, rather than remain in lifelong quarantine.<ref name="Mushtaq Wermager Alice Augusta Ball"/>

Ball died unexpectedly in 1916 at age 24 before she could publish her findings.<ref name="Black Past"/><ref>https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2023/04/11/overlooked-no-more-alice-ball-chemist-who-created-a-treatment-for-leprosy ({{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260329110736/https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2023/04/11/overlooked-no-more-alice-ball-chemist-who-created-a-treatment-for-leprosy|date=2026-03-29}})</ref> After her death, others took credit for her work, but later scholarship and institutional recognition restored her legacy. The Ball Method itself became medically obsolete after the 1946 development of a monotherapy using dapsone.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kar |first1=Hemanta Kumar |last2=Gupta |first2=Ruchi |title=Treatment of leprosy |journal=Clinics in Dermatology |date=January 2015 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=55–65 |doi=10.1016/j.clindermatol.2014.07.007 |pmid=25432811 }}</ref> The technique is historically significant, marking a turning point between early botanical medicine and modern pharmaceutical chemistry. Ball's innovation improved medical outcomes for thousands of patients worldwide.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-03-16 |title=Alice Ball |url=https://do.ithistory.org/honor-roll/alice-ball |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=IT History Society |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Alice Augusta Ball was born on July 24, 1892, in Seattle, Washington, to James Presley Ball and Laura Louise (Howard) Ball.<ref name="NYT">{{Cite web |title=Overlooked No More: Alice Ball, Chemist Who Created a Treatment for Leprosy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/obituaries/alice-ball-overlooked.html |last=Ricks |first=Delthia |website=New York Times |date=May 8, 2023 |access-date=February 26, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Jackson">{{cite book|last=Wermager |first=Paul |chapter=Healing the sick |pages=162–188 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press, department of sociology of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |series=Social Process in Hawai'i |title=They Followed the Trade Winds: African Americans in Hawai'i |issn=0737-6871 |isbn=9780824847326 |oclc=423672598 |publication-place=Honolulu, Hawaii, USA |display-editors=2 |editor1-first=Miles M. |editor1-last=Jackson |editor2-first=Kiyoshi |editor2-last=Ikeda |editor3-first=Joel |editor3-last=Cosseboom |editor4-first=Trond |editor4-last=Knutsen |editor5-first=Santos |editor5-last=Barbassa |editor6-first=Debra |editor6-last=Tang |editor7-first=Cheryl |editor7-last=Loe |editor8-first=Grace |editor8-last=Wen |editor9-first=Donovan Kūhiō |editor9-last=Colleps |editor10-first=Upano |editor10-last=Upano |access-date=22 June 2021 |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/22988/1/Vol_43.pdf |language=English |via=ScholarSpace (Hamilton Library, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa) |year=2004 |volume=XLIII|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260329101222/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/cb8552e1-4f5b-47ad-8b93-7c02a354b128/content|archive-date=2026-03-29|url-status=live}}</ref> She was the third of four children, with two older brothers, William and Robert, and a younger sister, Addie.<ref name="dp">{{Cite web|title=Alice Augusta Ball: Chemical Drug Pioneer |first=Sibrina Nichelle |last=Collins |work=Undark |editor1-first=Tom |editor1-last=Zeller Jr. |editor2-first=Jane |editor2-last=Roberts |editor3-first=Brooke |editor3-last=Borel |editor4-first=Deborah |editor4-last=Blum |publisher=Knight Science Journalism Program (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |url=https://undark.org/2016/05/12/alice-augusta-ball-chemical-drug-pioneer-african-american-scientists |date=5 December 2016 |access-date=22 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302172126/https://undark.org/2012/02/12/alice-augusta-ball-chemical-drug-pioneer-african-american-scientists |archive-date=2 March 2020}}</ref> Her family was middle-class and well-off, as Ball's father was a newspaper editor of ''The Colored Citizen'', photographer, and lawyer.<ref name="NYT"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mhs.mt.gov/Shpo/AfricanAmericans/History/Newspapers|title=Newspapers|website=Montana's African American Heritage Resources}}</ref><ref name="Jackson"/> Her mother also worked as a photographer.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="Women Chemists"/> Her grandfather, James Ball Sr., was a photographer, and one of the first Black Americans to make use of daguerreotype,<ref name="Chem Matters">{{cite journal |issn=0736-4687 |oclc=9135366 |volume=25 |issue=1 |date=1 February 2007 |journal=ChemMatters |publication-place=Washington, D.C., United States of America |archive-date=13 July 2014 |access-date=22 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713035905/http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/chemmatters-february-2007.pdf |url=http://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/chemmatters-february-2007.pdf |language=English |display-editors=2 |editor1-first=Carl |editor1-last=Heltzel |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=Tinnesand |editor3-first=Leona |editor3-last=Kanaskie |editor4-first=Cornithia |editor4-last=Harris |editor5-first=Sandra |editor5-last=Barlow |editor6-first=Terri |editor6-last=Taylor |editor7-first=Peter |editor7-last=Isikooff |title=Alice A. Ball: Young Chemist Gave Hope to Millions |pages=17–19 |first1=Paul |last1=Wermager |first2=Heltzel |last2=Carl |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/knowledge-base/what-is-a-daguerreotype|title=What is a daguerreotype?|website=Daguerreobase|access-date=9 December 2017}}</ref> the process of printing photographs onto metal plates. Some researchers have suggested that her parents and grandfather's love for photography may have played a role in her love for chemistry, as they worked with mercury vapors and iodine-sensitized silver plates to develop photos.<ref name="Women Chemists"/> Despite being prominent members and advocates of the African-American community, both of Ball's parents are listed as "White" on her birth certificate. This may have been an attempt to reduce the prejudice and racism their daughter would face and help her "pass" in white society.<ref name="Jackson"/><ref name="NYT"/>

Alice Ball and her family moved from Seattle to Honolulu in 1902, where she attended Central Grammar School (formerly and once again called Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani Middle School).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dwyer |first=Mitchell |date=24 November 2023 |title=A Woman Who Changed the World |url=https://www.uhfoundation.org/impact/students/woman-who-changed-world |access-date=24 November 2023 |website=University of Hawaii Foundation}}</ref> Her family moved to Hawaii with the hopes that the warmer weather would ease her grandfather's arthritis, though he died shortly after the move. In 1905 they relocated back to Seattle after only three years in Hawaii.<ref name="sw">{{Cite book|title=Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science—and the World|last=Swaby|first=Rachel|publisher=Broadway Books|year=2015|isbn=9780553446791|location=New York|pages=11–13}}</ref> After returning to Seattle, Ball attended Seattle High School, where she was an active participant in her school's drama club and was known for her quick wit and ambitious personality.<ref name="tl">{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Wong |first2=Kathleen M. |title=The Trailblazing Black Woman Chemist Who Discovered a Treatment for Leprosy |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-trailblazing-black-woman-chemist-who-discovered-a-treatment-for-leprosy-180979772/ |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> She graduated from this school in 1910, receiving top grades in the sciences.<ref name="dp"/><ref name="NYT"/>

Ball went on to study chemistry at the University of Washington,<ref name="Women Chemists">{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Jeannette|title=African American Women Chemists|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-974288-2|pages=19–24|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uomdpaHWaC0C&q=alice+ball&pg=PA178}}</ref><ref name=GBook>{{cite book|last=Guttman|first=D. Molentia|title=African Americans in Hawaii|year=2011|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|location=Charleston, South Carolina|isbn=978-0-7385-8116-3|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1bJWBmUDp0C&q=alice+augusta+ball&pg=PA15|author2=Ernest Golden|access-date=15 May 2013}}</ref> earning a degree in pharmaceutical chemistry in 1912,<ref name="catalogue_UniWash_1912_1913"/> and a bachelor's degree in the science of pharmacy two years later in 1914.<ref name="catalogue_UniWash_1914_1915"/><ref name="NYT"/><ref name="Black Past"/><ref name="dp"/> Alongside her pharmacy instructor, Williams Dehn, she co-published a 10-page article, "Benzoylations in Ether Solution", in the ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' in 1914.<ref name="NYT"/><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1021/ja02187a015| title=Benzoylations in Ether Solution |journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society |volume=36 |issue=10 |pages=2091–2101 |year=1914 |last1=Dehn |first1=William M. |last2=Ball |first2=Alice A. |bibcode=1914JAChS..36.2091D}}</ref> Publishing an article in a respected scientific journal was an uncommon accomplishment for a woman, especially for a Black woman at this time.<ref name="Chem Matters"/> Ball became the first African American to have her work included in a publication from that journal.<ref name="Mushtaq Wermager Alice Augusta Ball"/>

After graduating, Ball was offered many scholarships. She received an offer from the University of California Berkeley, as well as the College of Hawaii (now the University of Hawaiʻi), where she decided to study for a master's degree in chemistry.<ref name="Hawaii Times">{{cite news|last=Mendheim|first=Beverly|title=Lost and Found: Alice Augusta Ball, an Extraordinary Woman of Hawai'i Nei|url=http://www.northwesthawaiitimes.com/hnsept07.htm|access-date=17 May 2013|newspaper=Northwest Hawaii Times|date=September 2007|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233106/http://www.northwesthawaiitimes.com/hnsept07.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the College of Hawaii, her master's thesis, titled "The Chemical Constituents of Piper methysticum; or The Chemical Constituents of the Active Principle of the Ava Root" involved studying the chemical properties of the Kava plant species (Piper methysticum).<ref name="Thesis"/> Endemic to Oceania and common throughout Polynesia, this plant was used in the treatment of anxiety, headaches, kidney disorders, and other hyperactive illnesses.<ref name="tl"/> Because of this research and her understanding of the chemical makeup of plants, she was later approached by Harry T. Hollmann, who was an Acting Assistant Surgeon at the Leprosy Investigation Station of the U. S. Public Health Service in Hawaii,<ref name="co">Parascandola, John. "[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John-Parascandola/publication/277597573_Chaulmoogra_Oil_and_the_Treatment_of_Leprosy/links/58eb9e430f7e9b6b274b9200/Chaulmoogra-Oil-and-the-Treatment-of-Leprosy.pdf Chaulmoogra oil and the treatment of leprosy.]" ''Pharmacy in history'' 45.2 (2003): pages 47–57.</ref> to study chaulmoogra oil and its chemical properties. Chaulmoogra oil had been the best treatment available for leprosy for hundreds of years, and Ball developed a much more effective injectable form.<ref name="NYT"/> In 1915 she became the first woman and first Black American to graduate with a master's degree from the College of Hawaii.<ref name="Black Past">{{cite Q|Q138822666|url-status=live}}</ref> She was also the first African-American "research chemist and instructor" in the College of Hawaii's chemistry department.<ref name="Thesis">{{cite web |last=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |title=Ball, Alice Augusta |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/1837 |publisher=Scholar Space |hdl=10125/1837 |access-date=15 May 2013}}</ref>

==Treatment for leprosy== At the University of Hawaiʻi, Ball investigated the chemical makeup and active principle of ''Piper methysticum'' (kava) for her master's thesis.<ref name="Thesis"/> Because of this work, she was contacted by Harry T. Hollmann at Kalihi Hospital in Hawaii, who needed an assistant for his research into the treatment of leprosy.<ref name="Hawaii Times"/>

At the time, leprosy, or Hansen's Disease, was a highly stigmatized disease with virtually no chance of recovery. Over the course of 103 years, starting in 1866 until 1969, over 8,000 patients diagnosed with leprosy were exiled to the Hawaiian island of Molokai on the Kalaupapa peninsula, with the expectation that they would die there.<ref name="sw"/><ref name="al">{{Cite news |date=2016-02-29 |title=Alice Ball and the Fight against Leprosy |language=en-US |work=Bluestocking Oxford |url=https://blue-stocking.org.uk/2016/02/29/alice-ball-and-the-fight-against-leprosy/ |access-date=2018-11-04}}</ref> Most of these people were Native Hawaiians, while the ''Haole'' people were allowed to leave the islands and pursue more extensive treatment on the mainland.<ref name="tl"/> Since they lacked an acquired immunity, the native population was especially susceptible to leprosy, with the first case appearing in 1835.<ref name="tl"/> The best treatment available was chaulmoogra oil, from the seeds of the ''Hydnocarpus wightianus'' tree from the Indian subcontinent, which had been used medicinally from as early as the 1300s. But Western treatment developed by British physician Frederic John Moaut in 1854 was not very effective,<ref name="tl"/> and every method of application had problems. It was too sticky to be effectively used topically, and as an injection the oil's viscous consistency caused it to clump under the skin and form blisters rather than being absorbed. These blisters formed in perfect rows and made it look "as if the patient's skin had been replaced by bubble wrap".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/we-had-a-cure-for-leprosy-for-centuries-but-we-couldnt-1703005163|title=We Had A Cure For Leprosy For Centuries, But Couldn't Get It To Work|last=Inglis-Arkell|first=Esther|date=8 May 2015|website=io9|access-date=20 November 2017}}</ref> Ingesting the oil was not effective either because it had an acrid taste that often induced vomiting.<ref name="sw"/>

Ball developed a technique to make the oil injectable and water-soluble.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alice Ball |url=https://oumnh.ox.ac.uk/learn-alice-ball |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=oumnh.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> Her technique involved saponifying fatty acids to form chaulmoogric acid, transforming the acid into its ethyl ester, producing a substance that retains the oil's therapeutic properties while being more stable in an aqueous suspension.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ignotofsky |first1=Rachel |title=Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World |date=2016 |publisher=Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed |isbn=978-1-60774-976-9 |page=45 }}</ref> Ball was unable to publish her findings before her death in 1916.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Maggs |first1=Sam |title=Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History |date=2016 |publisher=Quirk Books |isbn=978-1-59474-926-1 |pages=36–39 }}</ref> Arthur L. Dean, a chemist and Ball's graduate study advisor, dean of the college, and later president of the university, was privy to details of the process she developed. After Ball's death, Dean undertook further trials and by 1919, a college chemistry laboratory was producing large quantities of the injectable chaulmoogra extract.<ref name="Chem Matters"/> Dean published details of the work and the findings without acknowledging Ball as the originator or crediting her work. Her name is not mentioned in any of Dean's published works on the chaulmoogra extract, while the name "the Dean method" is appended to the technique.<ref name="Jackson"/>

In 1920, a Hawaii physician reported in the ''Journal of the American Medical Association'' that 78 patients had been discharged from Kalihi Hospital by the board of health examiners after treatment with injections of Ball's modified chaulmoogra oil.<ref name="Chem Matters"/><ref name="Thesis"/><ref name="al"/> In Ball's Method, ethyl esters of the fatty acids found in chaulmoogra oil were prepared into a form suitable for injection and absorption into the circulation.<ref name="co"/> While not curative or able to fully halt the disease's progress indefinitely, the isolated ethyl ester remained the only available, effective treatment for leprosy until sulfonamide drugs were developed in the 1940s.<ref name="Chem Matters"/>

Ball's colleague Hollmann attempted to correct the mistaken impression of the extract's development. He published a paper in 1922 giving credit to Ball, calling the injectable form of the oil the "Ball method" throughout the article.<ref name="NYT"/> Hollmann discusses techniques developed elsewhere and reports progress in related leprosy treatments. Although Dean had contended that his later work was a refinement of Ball's method, Hollmann rejects this.<ref name="Jackson"/><ref name="od">{{cite journal |last1=Hollmann |first1=Harry T. |title=The Fatty Acids of Chaulmoogra Oil in the Treatment of Leprosy and Other Diseases |journal=Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology |date=January 1922 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=94–101 |url={{GBurl|uSYKAQAAMAAJ|p=94}} |doi=10.1001/archderm.1922.02350260097010 }}</ref> {{blockquote|I cannot see that there is any improvement whatsoever over the original {{sic|hide=y|tech|nic}} as worked out by Miss Ball. The original method will allow any physician in any asylum for lepers in the world, with a little study, to isolate and use the ethyl esters of chaulmoogra fatty acids in treating his cases, while the complicated distillation {{lang|la|in vacuo}} will require very delicate, and not always obtainable, apparatus. |author=Harry T. Hollmann |title=<small>"The Fatty Acids of Chaulmoogra Oil in the Treatment of Leprosy and Other Diseases" |source=''Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology'' (1922; '''5''': pages 94–101)</small>}} Ball nevertheless remained largely forgotten in the scientific record.<ref name="Daily">{{cite news |last=Cederlind |first=Erika |title=A tribute to Alice Bell: A Scientist whose Work with Leprosy was Overshadowed by a White Successor |url=http://dailyuw.com/archive/2008/02/29/imported/tribute-alice-bell-scientist-whose-work-leprosy-was-overshadowed-white-s|access-date=19 May 2013|newspaper=The Daily of the University of Washington|date=29 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806162033/http://dailyuw.com/archive/2008/02/29/imported/tribute-alice-bell-scientist-whose-work-leprosy-was-overshadowed-white-s|archive-date=2014-08-06|url-status=dead|id=[Note: Headline has: Alice {{sic|Bell|expected=Ball}}; rest of article correctly names "Alice Ball"]}}</ref> In the 1970s, Kathryn Takara and Stanley Ali, professors at the University of Hawaiʻi, found records of Ball's research and made efforts to ensure her achievement was recognized. In the 1990s, Ali came across ''The Samaritans of Molokai'', a 1932 book that specifically mentioned and recognized the contributions of a young chemist, later identified as Ball.<ref name="tl"/>

==Death and recognition== Ball died on December 31, 1916, at age 24. She had become ill during her research and returned to Seattle for treatment a few months before her death.<ref name="Black Past"/> A 1917 ''Pacific Commercial Advertiser'' article suggested that the cause may have been chlorine poisoning due to exposure while teaching in the laboratory.<ref name="Hawaii Times"/> One hypothesis was that she had given a demonstration on how to properly use a gas mask in preparation for an attack, as World War I was continuing in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://sop.washington.edu/uwsop-alumni-legend-alice-ball-class-of-1914-solved-leprosy-riddle/ |title=UWSOP alumni legend Alice Ball, Class of 1914, solved leprosy therapy riddle |access-date=2017-11-28 |archive-date=2019-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811220543/https://sop.washington.edu/uwsop-alumni-legend-alice-ball-class-of-1914-solved-leprosy-riddle/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Chlorine poisoning was stated on her death certificate as speculation, without a definite cause of death.<ref name="Jackson"/>

The first recognition of Ball's work came six years after her death when, in 1922, she was mentioned in Harry T. Hollmann's article,<ref name="od"/> with her method being called the "Ball Method".<ref name="NatGeog_almost_lost">{{Cite web |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/alice-ball-leprosy-hansens-disease-hawaii-womens-history-science/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917143525/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/alice-ball-leprosy-hansens-disease-hawaii-womens-history-science |first1=Carisa D.|last1=Brewster |url-status=live |archive-date=September 17, 2018 |title=How the Woman Who Found a Leprosy Treatment Was Almost Lost to History |date=2018-02-28 |website=National Geographic News|access-date=2019-03-16}} (alt. {{web archive|url=https://megalodon.jp/2026-0329-2043-13/https://www.nationalgeographic.com:443/science/article/alice-ball-leprosy-hansens-disease-hawaii-womens-history-science|date=2026-03-29}})</ref> After the work of many historians at the University of Hawaiʻi including Kathryn Takara and Stanley Ali,<ref name="NYT"/> the University of Hawaiʻi honored Ball in 2000 by dedicating a plaque to her on the school's only chaulmoogra tree behind Bachman Hall.<ref name="Hawaii Times"/> In 2004, Paul Wermager of the University of Hawaiʻi quoted a 1921 interview with Dean in the newspaper ''Paradise of the Pacific'', in which Dean emphasized the importance of the work of his predecessors in the development of the extract. Despite this, according to Wermager, the report "mention[s] Hollmann and other colleagues", but not Ball.<ref name="Jackson"/>{{rp|174}} In 2007, the University Board of Regents honored Ball with a Medal of Distinction, the school's highest honor.

In March 2016, ''Hawaiʻi Magazine'' placed Ball on its list of the most influential women in Hawaiian history.<ref name="Dekneef2016">{{cite news|last=Dekneef|first=Matthew|title=14 extraordinary women in Hawaii history everyone should know|newspaper=Hawai'i Magazine|location=Honolulu|date=March 9, 2016|url=http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/incredible-hawaii-women-in-history|access-date=March 9, 2016}}</ref> Paul Wermager established a scholarship, in 2017, called the "Alice Augusta Ball endowed scholarship" for students pursuing degrees in chemistry, biology, biochemistry, or microbiology.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alice Ball – Developed first successful treatment for Hansen's disease (Leprosy) |url=https://www.gocruisers.org/AliceBall1.aspx |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=www.gocruisers.org}}</ref> In 2018, a new park in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood was named after Ball.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alice Ball Park |url=https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/alice-ball-park |publisher=Seattle Parks and Recreation |access-date=February 22, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Lambert|first=Ken|title=Seattle's new Alice Ball Park named for a pioneering medical researcher |newspaper=Seattle Times|location=Seattle|date=August 18, 2019|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattles-new-alice-ball-park-named-for-a-pioneering-medical-researcher/|access-date=August 18, 2019}}</ref> In 2019, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine added her name to the frieze atop its main building, along with Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie, in recognition of their contributions to science and global health research.<ref>{{cite web |title=Women health pioneers honoured on LSHTM's iconic London building for the first time| url=https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2019/women-health-pioneers-honoured-lshtms-iconic-london-building-first-time|access-date=September 9, 2019}}</ref><ref name="NYT"/>

In February 2020, a short film, ''The Ball Method''<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Ball Method |url=https://www.sarasotafilmfestival.com/film/the-ball-method/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251210053352/https://www.sarasotafilmfestival.com/film/the-ball-method/ |archive-date=2025-12-10 |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=Sarasota Film Festival |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Abebe |first1=Dagmawi |title=African American Chemists: Academia, Industry, and Social Entrepreneurship |chapter=The Ball Method: A Short Film Celebrating Alice Augusta Ball |series=ACS Symposium Series |date=2021 |volume=1381 |pages=41–51 |doi=10.1021/bk-2021-1381.ch005 |isbn=978-0-8412-9838-5 }}</ref> premiered at the Pan African Film Festival.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://massivesci.com/articles/alice-ball-method-dag-abebe-museum-moving-image-kiersey-clemons/|title=A new film tells the story of Alice Ball, chemist and inventor of a treatment for leprosy|last=Epstein|first=Sonia Shechet|date=January 28, 2020|website=massivesci.com|access-date=2020-01-29}}</ref> In 2000, a University of Hawaiʻi student association leader, Pi'ilani Smith, called for Dean Hall to be renamed with Ball's name, and researcher into Ball's career Stan Ali called for a university laboratory to be named after Ball.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archives.starbulletin.com/2000/03/01/news/story7.html|title=Ground breaking African-American UH chemist finally recognized|last=Kreifels|first=Susan|date=March 1, 2000|website=archives.starbulletin.com|access-date=2020-01-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260329103001/https://archives.starbulletin.com/2000/03/01/news/story7.html|archive-date=2026-03-29|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2022, the student government at the university continued to call for Dean Hall (the earth sciences building) to be renamed "Alice Ball Hall".<ref name="tl"/>

On November 6, 2020, a satellite named after Ball (ÑuSat 9 or "Alice", COSPAR 2020-079A) was launched.<ref name=AliceBall>{{cite web |first1= Rui C. |last1= Barbosa |title= Long March 6 lofts ten Argentinian satellites |date= November 6, 2020 |url= https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/11/long-march-6-lofts-ten-argentinian-satellites/ |access-date= March 29, 2026 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20251116192302/https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/11/long-march-6-lofts-ten-argentinian-satellites/ |archive-date= November 16, 2025 |url-status= live }}</ref>

On February 28, 2022, Hawaii Governor David Ige signed a proclamation declaring February 28 "Alice Augusta Ball Day" in Hawaii at a special recognition ceremony on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="Women Chemists"/><ref name="Daily"/> The ceremony took place next to Bachman Hall in the shade of a chaulmoogra tree planted in Ball's honor. More than 100 people attended, including First Lady Dawn Ige and UH President David Lassner.<ref>{{cite news |title=UH celebrates Alice Augusta Ball Day in Hawai'i, February 28 |url=https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2022/02/28/alice-ball-day-february-28/ |access-date=3 March 2022 |work=University of Hawaiʻi News |date=28 February 2022}}</ref> In December 2024, after a resolution by the UH Mānoa Faculty Senate, a bust sculpture of Ball was placed in the Hamilton Library.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-24 |title=UH Mānoa unveils sculpture of trailblazing chemist Alice Ball |url=https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2024-12-24/uh-manoa-unveils-statue-of-trailblazing-chemist-alice-ball |access-date=2024-12-24 |website=Hawai'i Public Radio |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://babesofscience.com/episodes/2016/2/22/episode-7-alice-ball Episode 7: Alice Ball] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329174957/http://babesofscience.com/ |date=2019-03-29}} from [http://babesofscience.com/ Babes of Science] podcasts *[https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/alice-ball-leprosy/ Meet Alice Ball, Unsung Pioneer In Leprosy Treatment] from ''Science Friday'' broadcast *Featured in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5196ZW9s-g Women Untold] video from Lawrence Technical University on three women of color in STEM (Ball is discussed from 12:14 to 20:45){{Gutenberg book|no=67736|name=The Chemical Constituents of Piper Methysticum by Alice Augusta Ball}} *{{Librivox author |id=16931}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Alice}} Category:1892 births Category:1916 deaths Category:20th-century African-American scientists Category:20th-century African-American women Category:20th-century American chemists Category:20th-century American pharmacists Category:20th-century American women scientists Category:African-American chemists Category:African-American pharmacists Category:African-American women scientists Category:20th-century American women inventors Category:20th-century American inventors Category:American women pharmacists Category:American women chemists Category:Chemists from Washington (state) Category:Chemists from Hawaii Category:History of women in Hawaii Category:Inventors from Washington (state) Category:Inventors from Hawaii Category:Scientists from Seattle Category:Pharmacists from Washington (state) Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Category:Broadway High School (Seattle) alumni Category:University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:University of Washington School of Pharmacy alumni Category:African-American women inventors Category:African-American inventors